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PASTORAL 



ADDRESSES. 



BY JOHN ANGELL JAMES, 

AUTHOR OF "ANXIOUS ENQUIEER AFTER* SALVATION "— -" YOUNS 
MAN FROM HOME"—" CHRISTIAN PROFESSOR," ETC., ETC. 



AN INTRODUCTION 



BY REV. WILLIAM ADAMS. 




NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON & CO., 200 BROADWAY, 



1841. 



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3i lX 



Jr^ *•** '***& mm , 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, 
By D. APPLETON & Co., 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern Dis- 
trict of New York. 



$1 



STEREOTYPED BY J. S. REDFIELIV 
13 Chambers Street, New York. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The celebrated Cotton Mather, so distin- 
guished for his systematic usefulness, was accus- 
tomed, almost at every entry in his diary, to insert 
in connexion with the letters G. D. (good devised), 
some useful project which he intended forthwith 
to put in execution. Urder date of April 5, 1712, 
we find the following :— 

" G. D. I have thoughts of publishing a book 
of Pastoral Desires, expressing the desirable 
things which a faithful minister will wish to see 
among his people. There may be many good 
consequences of such an action." 

At a subsequent time the following was writ- 
ten : — 

" G. D. My book of Pastoral Desires is now got 
through the press ; and now, with many and ar- 
dent cries to the glorious Lord for his assistance, 
I will set myself to visit all the families of my 
numerous flock ; and with all possible solemnity 
dispense the suitable admonitions of piety unto 
all sorts of persons in them ; and then leave the 
book in each of the families, with my request, 
that every person therein may peruse it, and par- 
take of his own portion in it." 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

This venerable man displayed great practical 
wisdom, as well as benevolence of heart, in his 
habit of recording every useful project, and after- 
ward putting it to the test of experiment. A good 
thought should never be lost. Dr. Franklin ac- 
knowledged his great obligations to one of the 
little essays which this distinguished preacher 
and pastor prepared for his own people. 

The author of the following pastoral addresses 
has fallen upon a similar method of doing good. 
It strikes us as peculiarly beautiful and appropri- 
ate. An occasional address from a pastor to his 
own people upon any one of the great topics of 
practical religion, must have its advantages over 
any other tract however excellent. It is like a 
letter from a friend, and is adapted to produce 
happy and indelible impressions. 

When Dr. Payson was dead, and his remains 
were carried to the church, where he had so fre- 
quently and faithfully dispensed the word of life, 
his weeping people saw a paper lying on his mo- 
tionless breast, placed there at his own request, 
with this inscription: " Remember the words 
which I spake unto you while I was yet with 
you." How could any withstand the touching 
appeal ! A short address, rich with truth, and 
warm with affection, occasionally distributed 
among a people by their pastor, may be read and 
remembered by them when his voice is silent, and 
his form has mouldered back to dust. 

The following addresses, as we are informed by 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

Mr. James, were never intended for publication, 
but having been found to be useful to his own 
church, they were, in accordance with repeated 
requests, given to the public, and have met with 
an extensive circulation in Great Britain. The 
topics discussed are practical; their spirit evan- 
gelical; the style simple; and manner affection- 
ate. We see not why the pastors of large churches 
cannot imitate the plan to advantage. "Why 
should not the press be subsidized, in aid of the 
pastoral work, as well as the pulpit ? 

W.A. 
New York, Jan. 1841. 



CONTENTS. 

Introduction .... . $ 

No. I. — The increased Holiness of the Church - 7 

No. II.— Spirituality of Mind - 20 

No. III. — Heavenly-Mindedness .... 37 

No. IV. — Assurance of Hope - 56 
No. V. — Practical Religion must be seen in Everything 74 

No. VI. — How to spend a profitable Sabbath - 91 

No. VII.— Christian Obligations - - - - 108 

No. VIII.— Life of Faith 1.25 

No. IX. — Influence of older Christians ... 143 

No. X.— The Spirit of Prayer ... 161 

No. XI.— Private Prayer <• - - - - 179 

No. XII.— S elf-Examination - 198 



PASTORAL ADDRESSES. 

No. I. 

THE INCREASED HOLINESS OF THE CHURCH. 

My Dear Brethren : Grace, mercy, and peace, 
be with you, from God the Father, and our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

You cannot have forgotten, that, on the first 
sabbath morning of January, when discoursing to 
you from 1 John v. 14, 15, and showing you from 
this scripture, the rule and encouragement of 
prayer, I proposed to you a subject, with much 
solicitation and earnestness, as an appropriate 
matter of supplication for the present year : that 
subject was, the increased holiness of the church. 
Through the sovereign mercy of God, and the 
outpouring of his Spirit upon the preaching of the 
gospel, and the administration of religious ordi- 
nances among us, we are now become a large com- 
munity, amounting nearly to eight hundred mem- 
bers ; a fearful as well as joyful number for me to 
consider, when I recollect that for the care of each 
one of these immortal souls, I am to give account 
in the day of final judgment. How much do I 



8 THE INCREASED HOLINESS 

need, and how urgently do I solicit, your prayers, 
that I may obtain grace to be faithful, and the 
supply of the Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

You have heard me declare, that, although it is 
not my intention to relax in any efforts for the 
conviction and conversion of the impenitent and 
unbelieving, yet is my purpose, as God shall assist 
me by his grace, to labor more carefully for the 
edification, consolation, and spiritual improvement, 
of those who through grace have believed. 

The magnitude of the church, instead of di- 
minishing, greatly augments my concern for its 
internal spiritual state; since the greater in bulk 
a body becomes, whether it be a natural or moral 
one, the greater is the necessity of looking well to 
its healthy and prosperous condition. God is my 
witness, that I am desirous, not only of a large 
church, but of a holy one. He that follows us 
all into the closet of private prayer, and seeth in 
secret, knows how devoutly, fervently, and con- 
stantly I say, "Lord give me a holy church." 
What is the addition of numbers, without the in- 
crease of piety ? It is only like the influx to a 
nation of a multitude of inhabitants, without any 
loyalty or patriotism in their hearts ; or like the 
swelling of a body with diseased flesh. 

This, then, is the subject of prayer, which I 
have already from the pulpit, and now from the 
press, propose as the peculiar matter of your soli- 
citations for the present year, so far as they regard 
the church — its increased holiness. In submitting 



OF THE CHURCH. 9 

such a subject for your consideration and adoption, 
I do not intend to insinuate that you are, in this 
respect, below the standard of other churches of 
your own denomination, or the average of other 
denominations; or even below your own former 
state : no, but I do intend to say, that neither you 
nor they are as holy as you should be, and might 
be. You have been much occupied of late in re- 
joicing over accessions to our numbers, forgetting, 
perhaps, that each new member, seemed to bring 
this message from God to you, " Be ye holy, for I 
am holy, and I require you to be holy, for the sake 
of those who are come to have fellowship with 
you, in the privileges and duties of the church." 

Holiness is a very comprehensive word, and ex- 
presses a state of mind and conduct that includes 
many things. It is the work of the Spirit in our 
sanctification ; the fruit of faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ ; and the operation of the new nature, which 
we receive in regeneration. Holiness may be view- 
ed in various aspects, according to the different 
objects to which it relates. Toward God,, it is 
supreme love; delight in his moral character; 
submission to his will; obedience to his com- 
mands ; zeal for his cause ; observance of his in- 
stitutes ; and seeking his glory. — Toward Christ, 
it is a conformity to his example, and imbibing his 
spirit. — Toward man, it is charity, integrity, truth, 
mercy. — Toward sin, it is a hatred of all iniquity, 
a tender conscience easily wounded by little sins, 
and scrupulously avoiding them ; together with a 



10 THE INCREASED HOLINESS 

laborious, painful, self-denying, progressive morti- 
fication of all the known corruptions of our heart, 
and a diligent seeking for such as are unknown. — 
Toward self, it is the control of our fleshly ap- 
petites ; the eradication of our pride ; the mortifi- 
cation of oar selfishness. — Toward divine things 
in general, it is spirituality of mind, or the habit- 
ual current of pious thought, and devout affections 
flowing through the soul. — And, toward the ob- 
jects of the unseen world, it is heavenly-minded- 
ness, a turning away from things seen and tempo- 
ral, to things unseen and eternal. 

Oh, what a word is holiness ! How much does 
it comprehend ! How little is it understood, and 
how much less is it practised ! Who can read the 
above description of it, and not admit that we need 
much, very much more of it than we possess, and 
that we may well make it the subject-matter of 
our prayers for another year. Study it as a whole, 
and in all its parts. How important is that view 
of it, which brings your conduct under the notice 
of men, and by whom, not only your own religion 
may be suspected, but all religion will be reviled, 
if they see any want of consistency between your 
actions and your profession : and how important 
also is that view of holiness, which considers your 
conduct in reference to God and Christ. To which 
duty, brethren, shall I most earnestly direct your 
attention, to a deeper spirituality, or a stricter 
morality? To a more elevated heavenly-mind- 
edness, or a more uniform exhibition of the graces 



OF THE CHURCH. 11 

that shed their fragrance, and exhibit their beauty 
upon earth ? I exhort you to seek both : I want 
to see the devotion of the church, incorporated 
with, and vitalizing and animating the morality 
of the house and of the shop. I want to see the 
spirit of prayer shedding a lustre, and diffusing the 
beauties of holiness over the whole character. I 
want to see the saint blended with and sustaining 
the husband, the father, the master, and the trades- 
man. To adopt apostolic and inspired language, 
I covet to see you exemplary in " all holy conver- 
sation and godliness." 

This, then, is what I press upon you as the 
object to be sought by us this year, and indeed, 
through every future year of our lives — more holi- 
ness. And for whom should we seek it ? For 
the Pastor : that his mind may be more filled 
with holy light, his heart with holy love, and his 
life with holy actions. Do not leave him out of 
your prayers. Much, under God, even in refer- 
ence to yourselves, will depend upon him; upon 
his preaching ; the tone of his piety : and the wis- 
dom, sanctity, and blamelessness of his conduct. 
Appointed to be an example to the flock, as well 
as its teacher and ruler, it is for your own ad- 
vantage that you should seek for him an abundant 
supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus. If apostles 
asked the prayers of the righteous, with how much 
greater propriety and correctness may we say — 
"Brethren, pray for us." 
Pray for the Deacons that they may be all men 



12 THE INCREASED HOLINESS 

of eminent and consistent piety ; men to whom 
the church may look up with esteem and confi- 
dence, on account of the measure of their holy 
gifts, and heavenly graces; men who shall feel 
their responsibility in being raised to office in 
Christ's kingdom, and who shall give themselves, 
not only to the temporal, but also to the spiritual 
interests of the church, and be always ready, in 
conjunction with the pastor, to lay themselves out 
for promoting the growth of piety among the 
members. 

Pray for the whole church, in its collective 
capacity, and in all its wide extent, and variety 
of circumstances, sex, and station ; that it may be 
full of the Holy Spirit, replenished with his di- 
vine benediction, as a Spirit of holiness, and made 
to abound in all the fruits of righteousness, which 
are by Jesus Christ unto the glory of God. 

Let each individual consider himself as the rep- 
resentative of the whole church; and as the piety 
of the whole body is made up of the piety of the 
separate members, it is his duty to begin the in- 
crease with himself. Let each seriously consider 
into how much higher degrees of holiness he would 
have the church advance, and let him immediately 
seek grace to advance into that state himself. Let 
each grow in grace, then all will grow in grace. 
Let each seek a revival of religion in his own soul, 
then the whole church will be revived. Let each, 
therefore, say, " I solemnly purpose and resolve, 
as God shall assist me, to be more holy this year 



OF THE CHURCH. 13 

than ever. I will seek to increase with all the 
increase of God, and to be filled with all his ful- 
ness. My aim and directory shall be more holi- 
ness." 

But, perhaps, you would wish me to specify 
some points to which, above others, I would have 
you direct your attention, in order to an increase 
of holiness. Holiness consists of two general 
branches. The mortification of sin, and the veri- 
fication of Christian graces. 

As to mortification of sin, carry on this year 
a more determined crucifixion of all heart-sinSj all 
evil thoughts, and evil feelings. " Crucify the 
flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof." 
" Blessed are the pure in heart," said Christ, " for 
they shall see God." A real Christian should 
"keep the heart with all diligence," a duty too 
much neglected. "We are too apt to be satisfied 
if the life be free from visible sins, forgetting that 
God seeth and search eth the heart. Direct your 
attention more fixedly, and your aim more con- 
stantly, to the destruction of besetting sins. " Lay 
aside every weight," said the apostle, " and the 
sin that doth most easily beset you." You know 
what they are, whether lusts of the flesh, or lusts 
of the mind ; whether bad tempers toward man, 
or sinful dispositions toward God ; whether viola- 
tions of piety, or of social propriety. Let this 
year, then, be distinguished by a great mortifica- 
tion of besetting sins. May we all go afresh to 
this work in the exercise of faith and prayer. 
2 



14 THE INCREASED HOLINESS 

What a year will it be, if all of us should come to 
the close of it, in a state of blessed freedom from 
sins that had distressed us, disgraced us, and hin- 
dered us in our progress heavenward, more than 
anything else. No sins require such severe morti- 
fication, such incessant labor, such earnest prayer, 
such strong faith for their destruction as these : 
but all this is necessary, for if they be not destroy- 
ed, they will probably destroy us. 

Connected with this, must also be the cultiva- 
tion of a tender conscience : a conscience tender as 
the apple of the eye ; and that shrinks from little, 
as well as from greater injuries. The Christian's 
soul is sorely injured, the credit of religion is great- 
ly lessened, and the minds of sinners much hard- 
ened, by the little sins of professors. 

But there must also be the viviflcation of our 
graces. I propose two things, greater spiritu- 
ality of mind, i. e. y a greater delight to think, to 
talk, to meditate, on spiritual subjects : a keener 
relish for what is divine; a more ardent and 
habitual delight in God ; a more intense appre- 
hension of the love of Christ; a hungering and 
thirsting after righteousness ; a pleasure in prayer, 
reading the Scriptures, and attending the means 
of grace. And with this a heavenly-mindedness, 
by which I mean, a sense of our pilgrimage-state 
on earth : a proneness to think of heaven, to long 
and prepare for it. In short, I intend the disposi- 
tion expressed in such passages as these, "Set 
your affections on things above, not on things on 



OF THE CHURCH. 15 

the earth." — " Looking for that blessed hope, the 
glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, 
Jesus Christ." — " I have a desire to depart, and be 
with Christ." — " For we are willing rather to be 
absent from the body, and to be present with the 
Lord." This is what I am anxious to see, a re- 
ligion of the affections ; a spiritual and heavenly 
religion ; a religion that makes you spiritual 
amid worldly things, and heavenly amid earthly 
ones. 

Such are the things I propose to you, as the 
object of pursuit this year. 

Do you not need them ? are you holy enough, 
spiritual enough, heavenly enough ? Can you so 
fax impose upon yourselves, any of you, as to im- 
agine you may be satisfied with your present at- 
tainments? God preserve you from the Laodi- 
cean mistake, of supposing you have "need of 
nothing." 

Would you not be more happy, if you were 
more holy? Would you not thus have clearer 
evidence of your personal interest in the blessing 
of salvation, and be less troubled with doubts and 
fears ; and at the same time experience a more 
blessed degree of spiritual liberty? Would you 
not bear your cares and troubles with greater ease 
and comfort ? 

Would you not be more useful by your example, 
your influence, your prayers, if you were more 
holy ? And surely you eannot be indifferent to 
usefulness. 



16 THE INCREASED HOLINESS 

Would you not be thus meetening for heaven y 
and more rapidly training up for glory ? Grace, 
is glory begun, glory is grace completed ; and ac- 
cording to your degrees of grace on earth, will be 
your degrees of glory in heaven. 

Is not this the design of all God's dispensations 
of grace and providence toward you. For what 
were you chosen in Christ Jesus before the founda- 
tion of the world 1 To be holy. Ephes. i. 4 ; v. 
What was Christ's purpose in dying for you upon 
the cross ? That you might be holy. Ephes. v. 
26, 27. Titus ii. 11-13. For what is the Spirit 
poured out from on high ? To make you holy. 
Gal. v. 16-26. Ephes. v. 22-32. John iii. 4-8. 
What is the nature of our calling ? A holy one ; 
1 ' for we are called to holiness." 1 Thess. iv. 7. 
What is the design of the Bible ? To make us 
holy. John xvii. 17. Why are we afflicted ? 
" To be made partakers of his holiness. Heb. xii. 
10-14. What is heaven ? The perfection of 
holiness. Ephes. v. 27. 1 John iii. 2. Rev. xxi. 
27; xxii. 11. See, dear brethren, how everything 
concurs in your being made holy. 

Let me then entreat you, as your friend, your 
pastor, the watchman of your souls, and overseer 
of your spiritual interests, to strive after holiness. 

Take up the subject in real earnest. Enter into 
the idea, and let it take full possession of your 
souls, that you must be a more holy people. Oh, if 
this year should be devoted to such an object, 
what, what, might we not expect ! 



"OF THE CHURCH. 17 

In order to this, 

Let it be a matter of constant, earnest, believing 
prayer in your closets, at your family altars, and 
in your social meetings ; for it is " the Spirit of 
Holiness" from heaven that must make you holy. 
Depend upon him, and express your dependance by 
believing prayer. 

Expect it : look out for it : believe that your 
prayers will be heard. James i. 6. 

Diligently use the means of grace ; not only on 
sabbath-days, but on week-days. Take pains to 
attain this state of mind. G-ive yourselves to it as 
something of importance you must attain to. 

Bend everything to it ; seek that your mercies 
may be sanctified, and your afflictions sanctified. 
Go to hear sermons in order to be more holy. 
Go to prayer-meetings to be mad^ holy. Go to 
the Lord's Supper to be made holy. Read the 
Bible to be made holy. 

Keep up a spirit of faith in Christ Jesus. All 
fulness is in him ; and all supplies must be had 
from and through him. 

Such are my wishes, my prayers, and my pur- 
suits, concerning you. By God's grace I mean to 
take more pains with you, and to be more in 
earnest for you than ever. But this will be of no 
avail, unless you take pains for and with your- 
selves. You can no more grow in holiness, by 
merely wishing for it, than a child can increase in 
stature and strength, by desiring it, while, at the 
same time, he neglects all the means x)f growth, 
2* 



18 THE INCREASED HOLINESS 

Do not abuse the doctrine of the Spirit's influence, 
to live in indolence. The promised aid of the 
Spirit is to stimulate, and not to paralyze your 
energies. " Work out your salvation with fear 
and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, 
to will and to do according to his good pleasure.'' 
In this instructive passage, we are encouraged to 
work, because God works. 

Do not reconcile yourselves to imperfection, by 
the idea that there is no perfection in this world, 
" Having these promises, dearly beloved," says the 
Apostle, " let us purify ourselves from all filthi- 
ness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the 
fear of God." 2 Cor. vii. 1. It is obviously our 
duty to aim at perfection, though we shall never 
attain it in this world. 

You are already aware that I have suggested 
one or two new measures for promoting your in- 
creased holiness. I have recommended the pur- 
chase and daily perusal by every one of the mem- 
bers of the church, of that eminently simple and 
spiritual little manual of piety, " Bogatzky's Gold- 
en Treasury ;" and I trust that each of you will 
possess the book, and as each day comes round, 
will read the portion allotted to it ; and make it 
the subject of devout meditation, during the inter- 
missions of domestic care, and secular business. 
It will produce a sweet and blessed fellowship of 
sentiment and feeling, between the members of 
ihe church, necessarily separated from each other. 

I pray to God, and entreat your prayers, that I 



OF THE CHURCH. 19 

may be assisted to write these addresses in a 
plain and scriptural manner : and that you may 
read them much to your edification. I recom- 
mend the frequent perusal of them, and that they 
be read the first time on the sacrament sabbath, 
alone in your closet of private prayer; with great 
solemnity, and with earnest desire to profit by 
them. I recommend also the perusal of the Scrip- 
tures during the month, which I shall mention ; 
as well as the reading, at the time of the perusal 
of the tract, the texts referred to, but for the sake 
of brevity not quoted. The chapters suited to this 
address are, Matthew v. vi. vii. Romans vi. vii. 
viii. xii. Galations v. vi. Ephesians iv. v. vi. 
James ii. iii. 1 Peter i. ii. 2 Peter i. iii. 1 John 
i. ii. iii. v. 

May God render this plan a means of your 
spiritual edification and growth in holiness. Com- 
mending you to G-od and the word of his grace. 



20 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 



No. II. 

SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

My Dear Friends: The subject of this ad- 
dress is "Spirituality of Mind:" a most blessed 
condition of the soul, much spoken of in conver- 
sation and in sermons ; often discussed in books ; 
frequently prayed for; yet little understood, and 
too rarely, at least in any high degree, possessed. 
It is a branch of holiness, but refers rather to the 
state of the mind, as the expression imports, than 
to the conduct. " To be spiritually-minded" says 
the apostle, " is life and peace." Rom. viii. 7. 
Or, as the words may be rendered, " the minding 
of the Spirit" z. c, the things of the Spirit, " is life 
and peace." In the preceding verse it is said, 
" they that are after the Spirit do mind the things 
of the Spirit." The word rendered " they mind" 
expresses primarily the exercise of the intellect, 
they attend to, they employ their thoughts ; but 
secondarily, and by implication, the exercise of 
the affections. Hence, in Col. iii. 2, it is thus 
rendered: " Set your affections on things above." 
Spirituality of mind, then, means the habitual and 
pious employment of the thoughts and affections on 
dwine subjects. It is something more than moral- 
ity of conduct, however pure and exemplary; 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 21 

more than attendance on the means of grace, 
however punctual ; more than liberality, however 
diffusive; more than zeal, however active: it 
means, in addition to all this, an habitual devo~ 
tional state of mind. 

It is the same state of mind toward God and 
Christ, and divine things in general, as an affec- 
tionate husband and father has toward his wife 
and children, who, not only upon the whole, truly 
regards them, and avoids whatever is grossly in- 
consistent with such a profession, but whose heart, 
when he is absent from them, instinctively, spon- 
taneously, and habitually, turns toward them ; 
who needs no prompter to remind him of them ; 
whose thoughts are confined to no time or place, 
and as often as they occur, and that is perpetually, 
kindle his affections, and make him love to talk 
of them, and long to be with them. Here is more 
than decorous conduct, here is a minding of them. 
Something like this is spirituality of mind, only 
the object is divine, and not human. It is such a 
minding of spiritual things as arises from interest 
and delight in them ; such a proneness to medi- 
tate upon them as is produced by a strong attach- 
ment to them. The true indication of this state 
of mind, then, is to be found in the prevailing 
character and complexion of the thoughts. " As 
a man thinketh in his heart," says the Proverb, 
" so is he." Thoughts are the springs of feeling, 
the elements of action, and of character. The 
object of our thoughts in this state of mind is not 



22 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

merely future glory, for that we characterize 
heavenly-mindedness; it is not a mere looking up 
into heaven, a longing and craving, amid the 
sorrows of life, after immortality and eternal re- 
pose, but a devout and hatitual reflection on the 
whole range of divine truth ; the glorious charac- 
ter of God; the person and offices of Christ; the 
wise and gracious care of a superintending Provi- 
dence ; the covenant of grace ; the exceeding great 
and precious promises of the divine word; the 
millenial state of the world ; and the second com- 
ing of Christ, with all the other varieties of spiritual 
subjects. 

Now if there be a spiritual mind, our thoughts 
of these subjects will be voluntary and spontane- 
ous ; they will rise up in the soul, not only when 
it is appealed to by sermons, books, and events, 
which in some sense compel it to think, but in 
the absence of the minister ; when at a distance 
from the sanctuary ; and when neither volume nor 
dispensation of providence speaks to us. In re- 
tirement, in solitude, on journey's, in the sleepless 
hours of night, and during the intervals of business, 
we shall turn to some topic of religion, to the 
glory of God, the work of Christ, or the privileges 
of believers, and find our comfort and joy in such 
meditations. We shall muse till the fire burns 
within us. We shall court such seasons of holy 
thoughtfulness, and strive to lengthen them when 
they occur. 

Such thoughts will be frequent and habitual. 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 22 

They will occur not only at long intervals, nor be 
looked upon, when they do, as strangers entering 
into the mind, surprising it by their novelty, and 
almost alarming it, as the vision of an angel did 
the Jews, under supposition that they are the 
harbinger of death ; but they are the stated resi- 
dents of the mind, necessarily going abroad for 
various purposes, but still returning home, as soon 
as that business is done, to dwell there. They 
are the daily, almost hourly occupants of the 
soul. 

These thoughts are as agreeable to the mind as 
they are habitual. The Christian loves to think 
on divine things ; they suit his taste, are congenial 
with his desires, and are productive of his happi- 
ness. They are as welcome as beloved friends, 
who are received with joy, entertained with pleas- 
ure, and parted from with reluctance. 

Pious thoughts are readily suggested by the 
occurrences of life to the spiritually-minded Chris- 
tian. His comforts lead him to think of the 
goodness of God; his afflictions of their divine 
source. In public judgments his mind goes up to 
the Supreme Governor ; in national mercies to the 
Author of Vuitful seasons and public tranquillity. 
Where others talk of nature, he thinks of God ; 
and where they speak of fortune, he dwells on 
Providence. Recollecting the beautiful imagery 
of Scripture, which has associated the offices, and 
work, and benefits of Christ, with all the objects 
of nature; he sees the glories of the Savior 



24 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

figuratively set forth before him in the splendor of 
the sun, the brilliancy of the morning-star, the 
clustered vine, the waving com, the tender shep- 
herd, and the affectionate bridegroom.. Without 
allowing his spirituality to degenerate into an 
allegorizing, rhapsodical, or mystic piety, he loves 
to follow in the track of the sacred writers, and 
read his Savior's name in those objects on which 
they have imprinted it. And I may remark that 
among all the objects to which the thoughts and 
affections of the spiritually-minded are directed, 
the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ 
stand pre-eminent. They do not stop'm the con- 
templation of God, and Providence, and heaven, 
but contemplate all in Christ, and Christ in all. 
His divinity, atonement, and intercession ; his 
perfect righteousness for justification, and his spot- 
less example as the rule of their sanctification ; 
his offices of prophet, priest, and king, are all 
themes which have irresistible attractions for 
their thoughts. Nothing more decidedly indicates 
spirituality, than this habitual tendency of the 
thoughts to Christ. It is not heaven, merely, nor 
chiefly, I again repeat, that this disposition leads 
the believer to dwell upon, but Christ ; for what 
is heaven but the presence of Christ ? Provided 
he could see the glory, and feel the grace of the 
Savior, it is all -one to the man of strong faith, 
the advanced Christian, whether he is in heaven or 
upon earth, or at any rate, his desire to depart is 
founded on the hope and desire of a more perfect 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 25 

vision and enjoyment of Christ. The degree to 
which our tnoughts and feelings are drawn to the 
Redeemer, is the precise amount we possess of 
true spirituality of mind. There may be, and 
doubtless is, much serious reflection of a certain 
kind, compelled by sorrow, or produced by a sen- 
timental turn of mind, on various generalities 
of religion, and especially upon Providence and 
heaven, even where there is no evangelical piety. 
But to them that believe Christ is precious. He 
is the specific object and centre of their devotional 
reflections. 

The thoughts of the truly spiritually-minded 
always kindle religious affections and lead to cor- 
responding actions. Spirituality of mind is not 
mere silent contemplation, inactive sentimentality, 
passionless quietism; no, it is habitual and delight- 
ful thinking, producing habitual and delightful 
feeling, and ending in habitual holy actions. " It 
is of little consequence what are our musings, and 
meditations, and heart-stirring feelings, and ele- 
vated thoughts, unless there is connected with all 
these excitements, what is the only legitimate 
proof of their genuineness and sincerity, conformity 
to the will of God, and actual meetness for heaven, 
in our temper, disposition, and character." It is 
a spurious spirituality, and one of the artifices by 
which Satan deceives and destroys unwary souls, 
to indulge in pious thoughts, and luxuriate in de- 
votional feeling, while the temper is unsubdued, 
the corruptions of the heart unmortified, and the 
3 



26 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

actions of the life are in little conformity with the 
word of God. 

Such is spirituality of mind; not a mere re- 
ligious talkativeness, which confines itself to a set 
of current phrases, and which is ever forward to 
obtrude them upon all persons and on all occasions ; 
not affected grimace, and fawning pious obsequi- 
ousness ; nothing of the sort. True it is, that the 
person enjoying this holy state of soul, will be 
ever willing, yea, ready to converse with others, 
like minded, on the subjects nearest and dearest to 
their hearts, and it is one of the marks of their 
character to solicit as companions, and to associate 
habitually with those who are qualified by their 
experience and prepared by their disposition, to 
engage in such discourse as befits the redeemed of 
the Lord, and the travellers to immortality. Shun- 
ning the worldly-minded, the political, and the 
controversial, they will unite with those who fear 
the Lord, and speak often to one another on the 
common salvation ; but they will not indulge in 
what may be denominated mere cant, words which 
proceed from no conviction or emotion, and which 
end in no action. 

This, my dear flock, is the state of mind which 
I am anxious to promote in you, and to set you an 
example of it in myself. It is not enough that 
we be outwardly correct in our conduct, and that 
we maintain all the forms of godliness; but we 
must seek to maintain the vitality of all this in 
the state of our minds and hearts. Religion is a 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 27 

living principle in the soul ; yea, a divine life, a 
holy taste, whose seat and centre is in the mind. 
Conduct is but the body of character, and however 
symmetrical it may be, and however fair to look 
upon, it is pious thoughts and feeling that give it 
intellect and heart, and constitute its soul, without 
which there is but the picture or the statue, but 
not the living Christian. It is the object of the 
present address to promote the exercise of such 
thoughts and such affections, as may be supposed 
to dwell in a soul renewed by the Spirit of God, 
sanctified by the truth, that loves God supremely, 
and is under the constraining influence of the love 
of Christ ; and is hoping, waiting, and preparing 
for eternal glory. And do, my dear friends, reflect 
what spontaneous, numerous, delightful, and prac- 
tical thoughts such a state of soul might be sup- 
posed to call forth. Can a soul be redeemed, 
regenerated, and going to glory everlasting, and 
not think much, and feel much, and talk much 
about it ? Can such prospects be before us, such 
hopes in us, such brightness beaming upon us, and 
yet there be no habitual minding of such matters ? 
It may be useful to mention some proofs of a 
want of spirituality, that those who are destitute 
of it, may take warning, and seek to have the 
defect supplied. When there is no disposition or 
tendency to indulge in holy thoughts, but the 
whole character and complexion of the mind are 
worldly — when there is a disinclination to attend 
the week-dav services of religion — when the do- 



28 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

mestic and private duties of devotion are little 
better than heartless forms — when the taste in 
regard to sermons is rather for talent and elegance, 
than for sound evangelical truth — when the society 
of worldly and political men is preferred to the 
company of the godly, or when the least spiritual 
of the latter are more sought after, and their dis- 
course is more relished than that of the eminently 
pious — when cheerfulness degenerates into levity, 
and there is no pleasure in religious conversation — 
when there is a disposition to decry as hypocrisy 
and cant all spiritual taste and conversation — in 
all these cases there is a sad indication of a want 
of the state of mind, which it is the object of this 
address to promote. 

But I will now enumerate some of the principal 
means by ivhich spirituality of mind may be pro- 
moted. It will not grow in the soul without 
culture; nor come to us at the careless beckoning 
of indolent wishing. This kind goeth not forth 
but by fasting and prayer. 

We must set our hearts upon it, or we shall 
never have it, and consider it both as a rich privi- 
lege to be enjoyed, and an incumbent duty to be 
performed. 

The most direct and certain means of obtaining 
it are, a clear scriptural knowledge af divine truth, 
and a strong faith in its glorious and eternal re- 
alities. We cannot expect spiritual thoughts and 
affections from truths which are but imperfectly 
understood, or doubtfully and feebly believed. 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 29 

How fervently should we pray for it, how 
ardently should we long for it, how laboriously 
should we seek for it, how confidently expect it, 
and how perseveringly and patiently wait for it. 
The prayer of faith and fervor must go up to the 
treasury of heaven, and fetch the blessing from 
the inexhaustible stores of divine grace. It is in 
the closet.of private devotion where we commune 
with our Father in secret, that this pious state of 
mind must be cultivated, and much time for prayer 
must be redeemed from the world to obtain it. If 
you will not always pray and not faint ; if you 
will not give yourselves to prayer, if you will not 
watch unto prayer, you cannot attain to this de- 
lightful state of soul. It is the Spirit's richest 
donation, which he bestows only on the soul that 
lays hold on his strength, and seems to say, " I 
will not let thee go except thou bless me." 

Then there must be much devout reading of the 
Holy Scriptures. It is not enough not to neglect 
the Bible for the newspaper, but it must not be 
displaced by pious uninspired books. The best 
books of men can be no substitute for the book 01 
God. No fuel is so meet to feed the flame of de- 
votion as the promises, precepts, and consolations 
of the word of God : a single text has sometimes 
kept it burning with intense brightness for hours, 
and supplied a source of holy thoughts for a whole 
sleepless night or anxious day. 

Meditation is of great power to promote this 
devout frame. We must pause and think upon 
3* 



30 SPIRITUALITY OF MIXD. 

the word of God till its truths expand before us, 
and we feel its power upon the heart. Some of 
its minuter beauties, hidden from the hasty and 
superficial reader, come out to the admiring mind 
of him who looks attentively for them. It would 
be well to fix upon a passage of Scripture in the 
morning, and make it the subject of meditation, 
to fill up the intervals of business during the day, 
and be a topic always at hand for the mind to turn 
to in moments of leisure, and which should thus 
gather up for a holy purpose, these fragments of 
time which would otherwise be wasted on trifles, 
or spent on something worse. Bogatzky will help 
you here. 

When Christians meet they should endeavor to 
introduce some topic of conversation of a holy na- 
ture, and a common interest, and not allow the time 
to be lost, or their influence upon each other be at 
best negative. Large parties are unfriendly to 
this, as it is impossible or difficult to maintain a 
conversation in such circumstances, where all shall 
take a part. The parties even of Christians are not 
always favorable to their Christianity. Where the 
time is spent in music, singing, or mere gossip, it is 
but little calculated to promote spirituality of mind. 

Self-examination and self-inspection must be 
added. We should look into our minds, and keep 
a constant eye upon the state of our soul, as to the 
thoughts and feelings that habitually dwell there, 
or even come as visiters. Evil thoughts keep out 
good ones; and even worldly ones may so crowd 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 31 

the mind as to leave no room for better reflections. 
It would be well sometimes at the close of the 
day, when alone in our closet, to ask the question, 
" What have I been thinking about to-day ? How 
many thoughts have I given to Christ, and 
heaven ?'' 

It should be a matter of special importance with 
us, not only to be regular and diligent in attend- 
ing upon the ordinances of religion, but to be 
spiritual in the use of them. Nothing tends more 
to flatten devotional feeling, than an undevout at- 
tendance on religious exercises. 

Ejaculatory prayer maintained throughout the 
day has a blessed effect. It would keep the heart 
in a sweet and holy temper all the day long, and 
have an excellent influence on all our ordinary ac- 
tions and common duties. This were to " walk 
with God" indeed, to hold continually by our Fa- 
ther's hand ; whereas, without this, our praying 
morning and evening looks but as a formal visit, 
not delighting in that constant converse, which is 
yet our happiness and honor, and makes all con- 
ditions to be pleasant, all places to be sacred, and 
all occupations profitable. " This would refresh 
us in the hardest labor, as they that carry away 
the spices from Arabia, are refreshed by the scent 
of them in their journey, and some observe that it 
keeps their strength, and prevents them from 
fainting." 

And as we should be less worldly in our spirit- 
ual matters, so we should be more spiritual in our 



32 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

worldly ones, " Not only labor," says pious Leigh- 
ton, " to keep thy mind spiritual in itself, but by 
it put a spiritual stamp even upon thy temporal 
employments ; and so thou shalt live to God, not 
only without prejudice of thy calling, but even in 
it, and shalt converse with him in thy shop, or in 
the field, or in thy journey, doing all in obedience 
to him, and offering all, and thyself withal, as a 
sacrifice to him; thou still with him, and he still 
with thee, in all. This is to live to the will of 
God indeed, to follow his direction, and intend his 
glory in all. Thus the wife in the very oversight 
of her house, and the husband in his affairs abroad, 
may be living to God, raising their low employ- 
ments to a high quality this way ;" Lord, even 
this mean work I do for thee, complying with thy 
will, who has put me in this station, and given me 
this task. " Thy will be done." Lord, I offer up 
even this work to thee. Accept of me, and of my 
desire to obey thee in all. And as in their work, 
so in their refreshments and rest, Christians do all 
for him. " Whether ye eat or drink," says the 
apostle, 1 Cor. x. 31, "or whatsoever ye do, do all 
for the glory of God ;" doing all for this reason, 
because it is his will, and for this end, that he 
may have glory ; bending the use of all our strength 
and all his mercies that way ; setting this mark 
on all our designs and way. This for the glory of 
my God, and this farther for his glory, and so from 
one thing to another throughout our whole life. 
This is the art of keeping the heart spiritual in all 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 33 

affairs; yea, spiritualizing the affairs themselves 
in their use, that in themselves are earthly. This 
is the elixir that turns lower metal into gold, the 
mean actions of this life, in a Christian's hands, 
into obedience and holy offerings unto God. 

How many motives urge you to the cultivation 
of this divine temper. Some degree of it. is essen- 
tially necessary to the very existence of personal 
religion. " To be carnally-minded is d eath, but to 
be spiritually-minded is life and peace," The soul 
that has no degree of this holy heavenly temper, 
is dead in trespasses and sins. No tendency to 
pious thoughts and affections, is the characteristic 
of a soul, in which no spark of the divine life is 
yet kindled. But I am not now urging the neces- 
sity of regeneration, but of higher degrees of sancti- 
fication, and a larger measure of spirituality, as an 
essential part of it. 

Think of the happiness accompanying a large 
share of spirituality. It is life and peace ; a living 
peace ; a peaceful life. It is life ; just as much 
as we have of this and no more, we have of the 
life of God, of heaven, of holiness in our souls. 
All life in sentient beings is delightful in propor- 
tion to its vigor and healthfulness; the sensations 
of animal life are agreeable ; the exercises of in- 
tellectual life still more so ; but the actings and 
aspirations of spiritual life, are the sublimest feli- 
city the human soul can know: this is the life of 
spirits made perfect : of the blessed angels ; of our 
Lord Jesus Christ ; and of the great God himself, 



34 SPIRITUALITY OF ME\ T D. 

who is pure spirit. In the exercises of this life, 
we therefore have fellowship with the Father, and 
with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the life whose 
spring is hid with Christ in God. Let us rise 
higher, my dear friends, into this lofty and holy ex- 
istence. As rational creatures it is a dignified em- 
ployment to use our noble faculties in the contem- 
plation of the works of creation, but as spiritual 
ones it is still more dignified, to use them in con- 
templating and enjoying the things that are above, 
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 
This is indeed peace, a word that signifies not 
only tranquillity and repose of mind, but all the 
kinds and parts of substantial happiness. There 
is no real felicity out of the region of divine reali- 
ties, and it is spirituality that brings us within this 
hallowed circle, and enables us to drink the crys- 
tal waters of these blessed springs. 

If you would enjoy religion, then, or at any rate, 
if you would have a rich and powerful enjoyment 
of it, you must attain to high degrees of this de- 
vout temper. Think of the felicity which a cur- 
rent of holy thoughts flowing through the soul, and 
directing its course ever toward God, and Christ, 
and heaven, must bring with it. How richly must 
such a stream be impregnated with all the ele- 
ments of a paradisaic life. How would such a 
state of mind lighten your cares, alleviate your 
sorrows, sweeten your comforts, sanctify your trials, 
elevate your devotions, and anticipate heaven. 
How many otherwise cheerless scenes would it 



SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 35 

enliven, and how many gloomy seasons would it 
irradiate ! What a source of perennial delight 
would it open, where all beside is a desert of the 
soul. Blessed state, day and night to be conver* 
sant with holy, heavenly, peaceful thoughts. 

Perhaps some of you have not lost this spirit* 
uality, because you have never attained to any 
high degrees of it. " What is the source of your 
most poignant regrets — what most powerfully 
awakens the bitter feelings of self-reproach — 
renders the means of grace unproductive of joy, 
and exposes you to the most dangerous excursions 
of your spiritual foes ? Is it not when you are 
' minding the things of the flesh,' and not ' mind- 
ing the things of the Spirit V It is the want of 
spirituality that beclouds your prospects, causes 
darkness, and doubt, and fear, to surround your 
path — obscures the evidences of your interest in 
the divine favor — gives power to your invisible 
enemies, and leads either to the experience of 
painful and morbid dejection, or the more danger- 
ous feeling of unholy presumption."* 

Think of what importance spirituality of mind is 
to give life, and beauty, and attractive force to your 
example. It is this which, when added to outward 
consistency of conduct, presents religion to the 
world as it really is, a divine and heavenly thing 

* " On Spirituality of Mind," by Dr. Fletcher. An 
admirable little po eke t- companion which I most earnestly 
recommend to my friends. 



36 SPIRITUALITY OF MIND. 

upon earth : for though its seat is in the soal, yet 
by the intensity and brightness of an inward flame, 
it sends out a lustre over the whole character, and 
exhibits the beauties of holiness in a state of il- 
lumination. Or, to change the metaphor, though 
the principle of life be within, it presents the outer 
man of piety as a vital reality, and not a dead 
form. 

You may be useful I admit, without much, or 
even without any spirituality ; for God can glorify 
himself by the instrumentality of unconverted 
men ; but how much more useful may you be if 
all the offerings of your liberality are salted with 
tbis grace, and the flame of your zeal be fed with 
the oil of this personal piety. What a prevalence 
will it give to your prayers, what an impulse to 
your liberality, and what a constancy as well a3 
steadfastness to your energies and efforts. 

And is it not thus you are to become meet to be 
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light ? 
Yea, is it not the beginning of heaven upon earth ? 
What is heaven, but the absence of all that is 
carnal, and the presence and perfection of all that 
is spiritual? It is by the habitual recurrence of 
holy thoughts that the lineaments of a heavenly 
character are impressed upon the soul, and by the 
ardor of holy affections, that they acquire an un- 
fading beauty and an enduring form. 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 37 



No. III. 

HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

My Dear Friends : The subject of this address 
, is heavenly-mindedness. It may seem, perhaps, 
that there is considerable sameness in these first 
three letters of the series which it is my intention 
to lay before you. That they are alike and related, 
I admit, but not that they are identical ; and, in- 
deed, they are selected on account of their rela- 
tion to each other, and with the hope of mutually 
aiding to deepen, by the repetition and concentra- 
tion of one train of thought, the impression which 
each by itself, and the three together, are intended 
to produce. 

Heavenly-mindedness is an expression that ex- 
plains itself, it is the minding of heaven ; or the 
exercise of the thoughts and affections upon those 
invisible but eternal realities, which are declared 
by the Scriptures to await the Christian beyond 
the grave. Spirituality is one branch of holiness ; 
and heavenly-mindedness is spirituality, exercised 
in reference to one specific object — the celestial 
state. 

Alas ! how little of this is there to be found even 
among professing Christians : — 

" How low their hopes of heaven above, 
How few affections there." 
4 



38 HEAVEXLY-MINDEDNESS. 

The description given by the apostle of the pre- 
dominant taste and pursuits of the men of the 
world — " They mind earthly things" — too well 
suits a large proportion of those who in profession 
have come out from the world, and are a people 
separate unto God. How engrossed are they, not 
only in the business, but in the cares, the love, and 
the enjoyment of earth. Who would imagine, to ' 
see their conduct, to hear their conversation, to 
observe their spirit, so undevout, and so worldly, 
that these were the men, who have heaven in their 
eye,, their heart, their hope? Even to them, we 
should be inclined to think, that the Paradise of 
God is nothing more than a name, a sublime fic- 
tion, a sacred vision, which, with all its splendor, 
has scarcely power enough to engage their thoughts 
and fix their regards. How little effect has it to 
elevate them above a predominant earthly-mind- 
edness, to comfort them in trouble, to minister to 
their happiness, or to mortify their corruptions. 
Can it be that they are seeking for, and going to 
glory, honor, and immortality, who think so little 
about it, and derive so small a portion of their en- 
joyment from the expectation of it ? 

What is heaven ? The Bible, and the Bible 
only, can answer this question: and even this, 
though a revelation from God, but partially dis- 
closes the infinite and eternal reality. There is 
enough to excite, sustain, and animate hope, but 
far too little to gratify curiosity. Substantiate are 
revealed, circumstantials are withheld. You can- 



KEAVENLY-MJNDEDNESS. 39 

not be ignorant that heaven is represented in the 
Bible, rather as a state of mind ', than as a place ; 
and that where objects of sense and locality are 
spoken of, they are to be understood, for the most 
part, in a figurative, and not in a literal meaning. 
The description of the celestial world, as we find 
it in the Word of God, has always appeared to 
me one of the most striking and convincing of the 
internal evidences of Christianity. The Elysium 
of the Greeks and Romans; the Paradise of Ma- 
homet, and the various fantastic ideas of the 
world beyond the grave, entertained by modern 
pagans, are all of the earth, earthly ; nothing more 
or better than earthly and sensual gratifications 
rendered immortal. How different the heaven of 
the New Testament; how pure, how spiritual, 
how unearthly, how divine ! How strictly in har- 
mony with the sublime and holy character of God ! 
How befitting a creature, intelligent and holy ! 
How completely different from everything which 
the unholy, sensual, and earthly mind of man 
would ever have devised ! How far remote from 
the track of all his thoughts ! 

Heaven is usually called eternal life, i. e.\ eter- 
nal happy existence : everlasting existence, with 
all that can render existence a blessing. But what 
are the elements of its felicity ? As regards our 
own condition, they consist of a soul, possessed of 
perfect knowledge, perfect holiness, perfect liberty, 
perfect love, united with a body raised from the 
grave, incorruptible, immortal, and spiritual. As 



40 HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

regards our relations to other beings, heavenly 
bliss means our dwelling in the immediate pres- 
ence of Christ; the perfect vision, service, like- 
ness, and enjoyment of God : the society and con- 
verse of angels, and the spirits of just men made 
perfect. Connected with this, is the absence of 
everything that annoys, disturbs, or distresses us 
in this life. Such is the scripture-representation 
of heaven, as will be seen by consulting the fol- 
lowing scriptures. Psalm xvi. 11 ; xvii. 15. John 
iii. 14, 15, 36; xvii. 24. Rom. ii. 7; viii. 18. 1 
Cor. xv. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Philip i. 21; iii. 21. 
Heb. iv. 9 ; xii. 22-24. 1 John iii. 2. Rev. vii. 
9-17 ; xxi., xxii. 

" My chief conception of heaven," said Robert 
Hall to Wilberforce, " is rest." — " Mine," re- 
plied Wilberforce, " is love ; love to God, and love 
to every bright and holy inhabitant of that glorious 
place." Hall was an almost constant sufferer from 
acute bodily pain; Wilberforce enjoyed life, and 
was all amiability and sunshine ; so that it is easy 
to account says Mr. Gurney, " for their respective 
conceptions of this subject. "What a mercy that 
both these conceptions are true." Yes, both are 
true ; and the union of rest and love, perhaps, con- 
veys, within a small compass, the most correct idea 
of the heavenly state. 

Following the order of the representation given 
in the address on Spirituality of Mind, I observe, 
that heavenly-mmdedness means the spontaneous, 
frequent, delightful, practical bent of our reflec- 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 41 

tions toward eternal life. A heavenly-minded 
man is one who, as a convinced, condemned sin- 
ner, having obtained a title to eternal life, through 
faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ, and 
a meetness for it, in the regenerating work of the 
Holy Spirit, considers himself as a pilgrim and 
stranger upon earth : regards heaven as his native 
country, and as instinctively turns his thoughts to 
it, as he who in a distant part of the world, feels 
his mind and heart attracted to his home. Scarce- 
ly a day passes during which no thought of his 
mind, no glance of the eye of faith, turns to the 
glory to be revealed. In his solitary musiugs in 
the house, or by the way, the object is present to 
his mind to occupy his thoughts, to refresh and 
delight his spirit: and when he is with others 
like-minded with himself, it is his delight to con- 
verse upon the country to which they are travel- 
ling. Precious to him are those parts of revela- 
tion which speak of the life to come, and exhibit 
to him, amid the darkness of his w T ay, the distant 
lights of his father's house. Sermons that repre- 
sent the holiness and happiness of heaven are de- 
lightful to his heart; books that describe it are 
congenial with^his taste; and the songs of Zion, 
which sounds like the echo of its divine harmo- 
nies, excite all his hallowed sensibilities, and ele- 
vate his spirit to catch some of the falling rays of 
the excellent glory. The beautiful symbols of 
heavenly bliss, the city too bright with inherent 
splendor to need the sun; the walls of jasper, the 
4* 



42 HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

gates of pearl, and streets of pure gold, like unto 
clear glass ; the crown of life ; the harp of gold ; 
the palm of victory ; the white robe ; the song of 
salvation sounding from the countless multitude 
of the redeemed; all by turns seize and fix his 
imagination ; while his enlightened judgment and 
his holy heart, letting go these brilliant images, 
repose upon the realities they are intended to 
portray, the presence of God, the vision of the 
Lamb, the sinless purity, the eternal rest, the 
communion of the blessed, the fellowship of 
angels. 

The heavenly-minded man not only employs 
his thoughts, but sets his affections on things 
above. His hope and his heart are there. He 
does not wish it, it would not be proper that he 
should, instantly to dissolve his ties with earth, 
and leaving his family and connexions fly next 
moment home : he is willing to wait as long as 
it is his heavenly Father's will to detain him upon 
earth, but he is willing to quit all and go to God, 
whenever it is judged proper by him to decide the 
matter, that he should go up to the mount and 
die. His hopes of heaven do much to destroy his 
love of life, and fear of death. If • nature shrinks, 
as it sometimes will, at the approach of dissolu- 
tion, he looks beyond the gloomy passage, and an- 
ticipates by a lively hope, the moment when " lift- 
ing his last step from the wave, having passed the 
stream of death, he shall linger and look won- 
drously back upon its dark waters, then gilded 



HEAVENLY-jMINDEDNESS. 43 

with the light of immortality, and rippling peace- 
fully on the eternal shore." 

It is not in suffering' only that he feels a long- 
ing after immortality, for it is no indication of 
heavenly-mindedness to wish to depart in order 
to get rid of trouble. Impatience to die is often 
felt by those who have ceased to feel any attrac- 
tions in life, and the grave is coveted as a shelter 
from the storms of earth. There is nothing holy 
in such wishes ; nothing heavenly in such im- 
patience; it is only nature groaning after rest, 
and not grace longing for its perfection. Perhaps 
the most holy frame is to have no will or wish 
about the matter, but a readiness to live or die as 
God shall appoint. If, however, a preference may 
be cherished, and the soul rises into a longing to 
depart, the only ground on which it can wit}i pro- 
priety be indulged is, an earnest desire to get rid 
of sin, to be near and like Christ, to serve God 
more perfectly, and to glorify him more entirely : 
and such desires after immortality, when no tie 
binds us to earth, are legitimate and holy. Hap- 
py moments there sometimes are, alas ! how rare, 
in the experience of the spiritual Christian, when 
such are his views of the desirableness of heaven, 
that he feels as if he should be glad to break down 
the prison-walls of his spirit, and let her go forth 
into the liberty of her eternal felicity. The cele- 
brated John Howe once had such a view of heaven, 
and such a desire to depart, that he said to his wife : 
" Though I think I love you as well as it is fit for 



44 HEAVENLY-MINDEDXESS. 

one creature to love another, yet if it were put to 
my choice, whether to die this moment, or live 
through this night; and living this night would 
secure the continuance of life for seven years 
longer, I would choose to die this moment." Still 
the glory of a Christian is to be neither weary of 
the world nor fond of it ; to be neither afraid of 
death nor impatient after it ; to be willing to go 
to heaven the next hour from the greatest com- 
forts, or to wait for it through many lingering 
years, amid the greatest hardships, the most self- 
denying and laborious duties, and the severest and 
most complicated sufferings. 

The heavenly -minded man goes farther than 
this, and prepares for future glory. Considering 
heaven not merely as an object of delightful con- 
templation, of devout imagination, or of holy re- 
very —a sublime and splendid picture for a vision- 
ary piety to gaze upon — but as a state of moral 
being, action, and service, for which a meetness is 
required — he diligently cultivates those disposi- 
tions which the Word of God assures him belong 
to, and are to be exercised in the celestial state. 
He has a post to fill, a situation to occupy, a ser- 
vice to perform in heaven, and for which he knows 
the necessary qualifications must be acquired on 
earth. Death is only a physical change, and as 
far as we can understand, produces no moral effect. 
Grace is the preparation for glory, and he who has 
most grace, is most meetened for glory. The man 
who is going to occupy a place in the palace, en- 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 45 

deavors to acquire courtly manners, and to pro- 
vide himself with a court dress. So the eminent- 
ly-spiritual Christian considers himself as going in 
to dwell in the palace of the King of kings, and 
his great business upon earth is to prepare him- 
self with the qualifications and dress of the celes- 
tial court. And as he clearly perceives that the 
prevailing dispositions of heaven are purity and 
love, he labors to grow in holiness and charity. 
If asked, in any situation or circumstance, or at 
any period, what are you engaged in or employed 
about ? his answer is, " I am dressing for heaven ; 
making myself ready to go in and dwell with 
Christ. Having a post to fill in the divine palace, 
I am preparing for it by the mortification of sin, 
and a growth in grace." 

Such is heavenly-mindedness : but, alas ! where 
is it to be found? I know where it ought to be 
found — in every professing Christian. His prin- 
ciples demand it, his profession requires it, his 
prospects justify it. " If we should give a stranger 
to Christianity an account of the Christian's hopes, 
and tell him what Christians are, and what they 
expect to enjoy ere long, he would sure promise 
himself to find so many angels dwelling in human 
flesh, and reckon when he came among them, he 
should be as amid the heavenly choir ; every one 
full of joy and praise. He would expect to find us 
living on earth as the inhabitants of heaven ; as 
so many pieces of immortal glory, lately dropped 
down from above, and shortly returning thither 



46 EEAVENLY-MTNDEDNESS, 

again. He would look to find everywhere in the 
Christian world incarnate glory, sparkling through 
the overshadowing veil; and wonder how this 
earthly sphere should be able to contain so many 
great souls." And oh, how astonished, surprised, 
and disgusted would he be to witness the earthly- 
rnindedness, and to hear the worldly conversation 
of the great bulk of professing Christians, as if 
heaven were nothing more 'ban a splendid paint- 
ing to adorn their temples of religion, and to be 
looked at once a week ; but not a glorious reality 
to be ever before their eyes, to form their char- 
acter, to regulate their conduct, support them in 
trouble, and furnish their chief happiness ! 

What a source of strong consolation and ineffa- 
ble delight is a heavenly mind to its possessors. 
This is what the apostle calls " rejoicing in hepe 
of the glory of God." Could we actually look into 
the celestial world, and see its felicities and hon- 
ors ; could we hear the very sounds of paradise, 
and have the songs of the redeemed continually, 
or at intervals, undulating on our ear ; could the 
rays of the excellent glory, literally fall upon our 
path : how constantly should we go on our way 
rejoicing, as we reflected that earch step brought 
us nearer to this world of light and love ; and of 
purity and immortality ! How soft would be the 
cares, how tolerable the sorrows, how easy the 
most difficult duties, so soon to be laid aside amid 
such rest and such happiness ! This sight of 
heaven would irradiate the darkest scenes of 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. • 47 

earth, and prevent us from being seduced by the 
beauties of the fairest. Who could weep while 
heaven was spreading out its glories to comfort 
us, and opening its doors to receive us ! Who 
could think much of that sickness which was sus- 
tained beneath the vision of an incorruptible in- 
heritance, or of those losses which came upon 
them in sight of an infinite portion that never 
fades away! There would need no amusement 
or recreation to make us happy, vvhile listening to 
the song of salvation: nor of any othei pleasure to 
cheer as : this mixture of the view of heaven with 
the scenes of earth, would change the aspect of 
everything, and give truth to the expressions of the 
poet — 

" The men of grace have found, 
Glory begun below." 

And what more than a heavenly mind, a vigor- 
ous, lively, and influential faith, is necessary to 
give something like a reality to this ? Heaven 
does exist ; all these glories are above us and be^ 
fore us, though we see them not ; and it is only 
to believe them as they may be, and ought to be 
believed, and we shall rejoice in them with joy 
unspeakable and full of glory. Vivacious thoughts 
of them would, in measure, produce the same kind 
of happiness as seeing them. Happy should we 
be amid all the cares, and labors, and sorrows, and 
trials of earth, if in meditation, and by faith and 
hope, we could thus dwell on the borders of the 



48 HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

promised land. It would be to pitch our teat on 
Mount Pisgah, and constantly to have the promised 
land spreading out in boundless and beautiful per- 
spective before us. 

Nor is it our comfort only that would be pro- 
moted by a heavenly mind, but our sanctity also. 
" Everyman that hath this hope in him," says the 
apostle, " purifieth himself even as he is pure." 
1 John iii. 3. Heaven, being a holy state, yea, the 
very perfection of holiness, does, by a natural pro- 
cess, render those holy who meditate upon it, be- 
lieve it, hope for it, and long for it. Men's hopes 
always affect their conduct, and transform their 
characters into a likeness to the nature of the ob- 
jects of their desires and expectations. How ef- 
fectually guarded from temptation to concupis- 
cence, worldly-mind edness, and malice, is he 
whose affections are strongly fixed upon a state of 
purity, spirituality, and love ! Who that is drink- 
ing happiness from the crystal river that flows 
from the throne of God and the Lamb, can take 
up with the filthy puddle of worldly amusements ? 
What mortification of sin, what conquest of beset- 
ting corruption, what eradication of evil tempers, 
what suppression of unholy disposition goes on, 
when the soul fixes the eye of faith on things un- 
seen and eternal ! Yea, what discoveries of hid- 
den and unsuspected sins are made, when the light 
of heavenly glory is let into the soul ! In looking 
so much to earth, and earthly-minded men, we be- 
come so familiarized with sin, as to lose our clear 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 49 

perceptions, our accurate discrimination of its evil 
nature, and our accurate sensibilities to its crimi- 
nality and odiousness. "We lose our self-abhor- 
rence for our own sins, by the view of so much 
evil without and around us : and we recover our 
keenness of vision, and tenderness of conscience, 
only by lifting up our eyes to that pure and bless- 
ed region, where no sin dwells, and holiness is in 
perfection ; and where 

One view of Jesus as he is, 
Will strike all sin for ever dead. 

You will much wish to know how such a state 
of mind may be promoted. 

You must be willing to have it. Willing ! you 
exclaim, with somewhat of surprise, " "Who is not 
willing ? Who would not enjoy such a frame ?" 
You, perhaps, who ask the question. Compara- 
tively few are willing to be heavenly-minded. 
The great bulk even of professing Christians do 
not want this state of the soul ; they want to en- 
joy earth ; they are ever seeking new devices by 
which to be more and more gratified by things 
seen and temporal ; they are ever seeking to in- 
vest earth with new charms, and to throw greater 
attractions over the scenes that surround them. 
They do not wish to have the luxuriance of their 
earthly affections repressed, or the exuberance of 
their worldly joys restrained. It is no part of their 
plan, or wish, or effort, or prayer, to have one 
single terrestrial delight limited or displaced by 
5 



50 HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

such as are heavenly. Veryfeiv are willing then, 
to be heavenly-minded : and if not willing, they 
will never attain to it. 

You must be not only willing but desirous of 
this frame. It must appear to you a state to be 
coveted and longed for ; and for which you would 
be willing to part with some of the joys of sense, 
and the pleasures of earth : to endure the disci- 
pline of trial, and the influence of sorrow. Your 
heart must be set upon it, your soul must pant 
after it. 

It must appear to you not only desirable, but 
attainable. No such idea must be in your mind as 
that it is too high an elevation of piety for you to 
reach, too difficult an acquirement for you to make. 
Do not imagine tbat it is the devotion of the clois- 
ter and the cell, and which can be cultivated only 
by the recluse. Spiritual and heavenly Christians 
have been found, too rarely I admit, amid all the 
cares of a large family, and all the urgency of an 
extensive trade. Besides, if you cannot attain to 
as much of this celestial temper as some others, 
may you not have much more of it than you al- 
ready possess. Do not even your circumstances 
allow of improvement and increase. 

Use the right means for acquiring it. Believe 
its reality. Your faith is too weak to be influen- 
tial. It is not so much a deep conviction, a full 
persuasion, a confident anticipation, as a mere 
opinion. You have the name of heaven upon 
your lips, but not the grand idea, the glorious re- 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 51 

ality in your mind : the infinite, the transcendent 
conception, does not occupy and fill the soul. You 
are too much a stranger to the force of that ex- 
pression, " Lay hold on eternal life.'''' 

Acquire a clear and satisfactory evidence of your 
personal interest in the joys and glories of immor- 
tality. " Give all diligence to the full assurance 
of hope unto the end." Unite the full assurance 
of hope, with the full assurance of understanding 
and of faith. What is our own, more interests us, 
though it be little, than what belongs to another, 
though it be far greater. The heir of a small es- 
tate has his mind and heart far more occupied 
about his little patrimony, than about the vast 
domain contiguous to it, of some wealthy peer. 
Eealize your personal interest in heaven. If you 
are indeed a child of God, seek the witness of the 
spirit to your sonship ; and if a child, then you are 
an heir of God, and joint heir with Christ. After 
reading the gracious promises, and surveying the 
boundless prospects of eternal glory, indulge the 
thoughts that these are all yours ; yours to be ad- 
mitted to the presence of God and Christ, and to 
dwell there for ever ; yours to be like God and 
Christ in purity, love, knowledge, and immortality ; 
yours to be the everlasting companion of all holy 
angels and blessed spirits. Call the joys of heaven 
your own : they will then be infinitely more at- 
tractive than they now are. 

Give yourselves time for reading, meditation, 
and prayer. You must keep the world within due 



52 HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

bounds as to the time it occupies. If you allow it 
to take and keep the occupance of the whole day, 
from the time you open your eyes in the morning, 
till you close them at night, you cannot grow in 
this grace. If you resist not its engrossing, ab- 
sorbing power, 3 r our soul must suffer, your salva- 
tion be endangered, your heaven be lost. Oh, will 
you, with glory, honor, immortality above you, 
and before you, allow yourselves to be so engaged, 
as to have no time to think of them, or to look at 
them ! With the splendor of heavenly and eternal 
glory beaming upon your path, blazing around you, 
will you be so taken up with the world, as to hurry 
by and not turn aside to see this great sight ! Oh, 
Christians, believers, at least professed believers 
in immortality, is it thus you treat the heaven 
which occupied the thoughts of G-od from eternity, 
which was procured by the death of Christ upon 
the cross, which is the substance of revealed truth, 
and the end of all God's dispensations of providence 
and grace to man ! What ! no time to retire and 
meditate on eternal life ! Will you, can you, dare 
you bring yourself to utter such an expression as 
this, " I am really so taken up with my business, 
that I cannot retire to meditate and pray." Then 
I must tell you, you have no time to be saved, 
though plenty of time to be lost. 

Go into your closet, and with your Bible as the 
telescope that brings eternal glories near, meditate, 
meditate upon heaven. Survey its glories ; go over 
them in detail and in succession ; dwell upon the 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 53 

presence of God; upon being with Christ; upon 
perfect love, perfect purity, perfect liberty, perfect 
knowledge, perfect bliss. Contemplate their in- 
finity, their immensity, their eternity. Oh, what 
thoughts, what topics, what sources of delight ! 
What sublime, elevating subjects for the child of 
Adam, of dust, of sin, of sorrow, of mortality, to 
indulge in ! What a reflection upon us, that we 
should need to be admonished to turn our thoughts 
that way ; that with heaven open before us, we 
should need to be reminded, " There is immortal 
glory, look at it ;" and yet after all should feel that 
we are so pre-occupied and engaged, that we have 
no time to survey the wondrous scene. Dwell 
much upon the nearness of heaven. What is re- 
mote has* less power over the thoughts than that 
which is contiguous. How near is all this glory 
to your soul ! Nothing separates you from it, but 
the thin partition of flesh and blood : a moment of 
time, a point of space, may be all that intervenes 
between you and immortality. When you lie down 
to rest any night, you know not hut you may be 
in heaven before the next morning. When you 
rise up in the morning, but that you may be in 
heaven before night. If you are true Christians, 
you are ever in the vestibule of the heavenly tem- 
ple, waiting for the opening of the door, to be ad- 
mitted to the holy of holies. The heirs of glory 
are every moment going in to be for ever with the 
Lord, and you will soon go with them. Heaven 
is ever as near to you as God is, for it is the en- 
6* 



54 HEAVENLT-M1NDEDNESS. 

joyment of his presence, and he compasseth you 
about on every side. At any given moment of 
your existence, you know not but that the next 
may be the commencement of your eternal career 
of holiness, knowledge, and happiness. Did you 
realize this thought, how would it tend to keep 
up the frame of mind I am so anxious to promote. 

As heaven consists of enjoying the divine pres- 
ence, and of holiness and love, together with the 
joy arising from them, let us seek more intimate 
communion with God now, and labor after more 
purity, more benevolence, more spiritual peace. 
This would make us think of heaven, and long 
for it, when we had these, its first fruits, in our 
soul now. "We cannot go up into heaven, with- 
out heaven first comes down into us. Holiness in 
the soul of man is a part of heaven, and the greater 
heaven above will put forth an attraction to draw 
up to itself this lesser heaven below. Fire ascends 
to the sun ; rivers run to the ocean ; matter gravi- 
tates to its centre ; so holiness in the soul aspires 
to heaven, to which it belongs. 

And withal you must be much in private, earn- 
est, and believing prayer for the supply of the 
Spirit of Christ Jesus. Who is sufficient for these 
things, but he whose sufficiency is of God the 
Spirit? To make the future predominate over 
the present; the invisible over the visible; the 
immaterial over the material ; and heaven over 
earth, is an achievement of faith, to which he only 
is equal, who is taught and helped of God, " He 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 55 

that hath wrought us for this self-same thing," 
says the apostle, " is God, who also hath given 
unto us the earnest of the Spirit." 2 Cor. v. 5. 

Believers in Christ Jesus ; children of God ; heirs 
of immortal glory ; traveller to Zion ; possessors 
of eternal life ; look not at the things which are 
seen and temporal, but at the things which are un- 
seen and eternal. Think of what is before you in 
the world to which you are going. Let your char- 
acter and your destiny be in harmony. Born from 
heaven, and bound to it, let your conversation be 
in heaven, " whence we look for the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our 
vile body, that it be made like unto his glorious 
tody, according to the mighty power whereby he 
is able to subdue all things to himself." Phil iii. 
.20, 21. 



56 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 



No. IV. 

ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

My Dear Friends: The subject on which I 
address you this month is of great importance to 
your spiritual enjoyment, and, indeed, you cannot 
enter deeply into the consolations of the Spirit, 
without an experimental acquaintance with it; 1 
mean, the Assurance of Hope. A Christian is, or 
might be, the happiest man upon the earth ; but in 
order to this, he must have some satisfactory reason 
to conclude that he is a Christian. Religion is 
intended to make us happy, it is the overflowing 
of the felicity of the blessed God, into the soul of 
man; the reflection of his smiling countenance 
from the redeemed, regenerated spirit ; and the 
communion of the finite mind, in the fulness of 
the grace and glory belonging to the infinite one ; 
but then we must know that we have religion. 

There are three kinds of assurance spoken of 
in the Word of God : 1. " The assurance of un- 
derstanding" Col. ii. 2 ; which means, a clear, 
comprehensive, heart-establishing acquaintance 
with divine truth. 2. " The assurance of -faith" 
Heb. x. 22 ; which signifies an entire persuasion of 
the truth of the gospel. 3. " The assurance of 
Hope" Heb. vi. 11; which imports a confidence 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 57 

of personal interest in Christ. It is of the latter I 
treat in this address. They are all three inti- 
mately related to, and grow out of each other. 
In proportion as we fully know and are spiritually 
taught the doctrines of the gospel, we shall be 
fully assured of their truth, and have the assu- 
rance of faith ; and in exact proportion as we are 
fully assured of the divine person, mission, and 
work of Christ, we shall be fully assured of our 
personal interest in them, faith being based upon 
knowledge, and hope upon faith. The assurance 
of knowledge and faith has reference to the gos- 
pel in itself; the assurance of hope to the state of 
our heart in reference to the gospel. The assu- 
rance of faith is called for in a man's first profession 
of the gospel, in order to his being acknowledged 
as a Christian. The assurance of hope, again, is 
an enjoyment proposed to them that believe, and 
have already begun the Christian race, which they 
are called to follow after, and to give all diligence 
to obtain. 

It does not appear to be necessary to this state 
of mind, that we should have such a persuasion 
as utterly and continually excludes every shade or 
doubt ; and which is so absolutely perfect as to 
admit of no degrees or increase ; for that is not 
the sense in which it seems to be understood by 
the sacred writers, but rather as importing a pre- 
vailing and satisfactory conclusion; a state in 
which the mind sees no reason to question its 
sincerity and safety. Nor is it necessary to this 



58 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

blessed condition that the person who enjoys it, 
should be able or disposed to use bold, strong, con- 
fident affirmation, such as, " I am as certain I am 
a child of God, as if a voice from heaven declared 
it ; and as sure of arriving safely in glory at last 
as if I were already there." Many a modest, 
humble believer, if the question were put to him, 
"Are you a child of God?" would, perhaps, un- 
der the influence of meekness and self-abasement, 
shrink from the positive, " I am, I am sure I am;" 
and content himself with saying, " I hope and 
believe I am, having no serious reason to doubt it, 
for I am deeply convinced of my fallen, sinful state ; 
I renounce every ground of dependance, but the 
righteousness of Christ, and rest my hope of sal- 
vation on him. My faith has given me peace, and 
led me to love God. And, conscious of this, I 
doubt not I have passed from death unto life. 51 
This latter is the language of Scriptural assurance. 
Such a prevailing and satisfactory conclusion as 
to our state may be obtained. Had no injunction 
in reference to it been given in the Scripture, nor 
any declaration made concerning it, still it might 
have been fairly presumed, that a change so great 
as that of regeneration could not have taken place 
without being its own evidence, to him in whom 
it is wrought. The old and the new nature, the 
work and image of Satan and of God, are not so 
like each other as not to be easily distinguished ; 
but, in fact, we are commanded to give all dili- 
gence to obtain and preserve the full assurance of 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 59 

hope ; and evidences are laid down by which we 
may ascertain whether we are the children of God 
or not. Every one of us may know this; the 
means of judging are within the reach of us all* 

If, then, we may know it, we ought to know it. 
Assurance is in one sense our duty, as well as our 
privilege. If it is our duty to believe, it is our 
duty to hope, and if to hope at all, to hope even 
to assurance. Every man ought to know his 
spiritual condition. It is a matter of too great 
moment to be suffered to remain undecided. We 
ought not to be content to remain another hour in 
ignorance of our spiritual state. 

How is assurance to be obtained? This is a 

most momentous question. May God preserve 

me from error in giving an answer to it. It is 

said by the apostle, " The Spirit itself beareth 

witness with our spirit, that we are the children 

of God." Rom. viii. 16. Now as it is witnessed, 

or testified by the Spirit, that we are the children 

of God, we naturally ask, in what manner is this 

testimony borne ? This must either be in the way 

of a direct revelation to our mind, or by enabling 

us, on a comparison of the Spirit's work in the 

heart, with the description of the Spirit's work in 

the Word, to draw the conclusion that we are 

truly born t again. Some believe that there is 

granted to each regenerated soul a direct witness, 

in the way of suggestion, or impression, of its 

spiritual birth. This,, however, does not appear 

to me to be the meaning of the apostle. It does 



60 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

not accord with the context, which is ohviously 
practical, and speaks of the influence of the Spirit 
as received for mortification of sin, and for the 
productions of all the dispositions and habits of 
the Christian life, especially the Spirit of adoption ; 
it is unsupported by any other passage where as- 
surance is spoken of; it would, if this were its 
meaning, come under the head of a revelation from 
God, and seem to require something else to au- 
thenticate it ; it would open a door for mistake 
and self-deception; it has never been received by 
multitudes who have been sincerely and eminently 
pious, and it is unnecessary, because, without being 
supported by the inferential evidence, it is not to 
be trusted. It is much safer and more correct to 
consider the witness of the Spirit as purely infer- 
ential. The case stands thus : " The Holy Spirit 
speaks in the Word. The same Spirit operates in 
the heart. There must be a correspondence be- 
tween his testimony in the Word, and his opera- 
tion in the heart. The evidence lies in this corres- 
pondence. We take the divine Word as dictated 
by the Spirit, and containing a declaration of his 
mind — we see there what he testifies — we see 
especially the description which he there gives of 
of the faith and character of God's children — of 
the principles and dispositions, the affections and 
desires, the hopes and fears, and the peculiar walk 
and conversation by which they are distinguished. 
If our spirits in the court of conscience, and before 
the Father of our spirits, bears witness to a cor- 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 61 

respondence between this description, and what 
has been effected in us by the same Divine Agent, 
then there is a concurrence of the testimonies; 
the testimony of God's Spirit and the testimony of 
our spirits agree; the one witresseth with the 
other. What the Spirit of God has wrought in 
us harmonizes with what the Spirit of God testi- 
fies in the Word; and in proportion as our spirits 
have the inward consciousness of this harmony, 
do we possess the witness of the Spirit to our 
being the children of God."* 

This is in strict accordance with what is said in 
other places of Scripture. " These things," says 
the apostle J ohn, " have I written unto you that 
believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye 
may know that ye have eternal life." 1 John, v. 13. 
We are to know that we have eternal life, by the 
evidence of what is written, and of course by the 
comparison of our heart and life with it. 

In reply then to the question, how you may 
know that you are a child of God, I answer, by 
consciousness, and a comparison of your state with 
the Word of God. The apostle says, "We are 
all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ," 
Gal. iii. 26. " I am conscious," says an assured 
Christian, " that I do believe, and therefore I 
know I am a child of God." And suppose he 
were in any doubt about the reality of his faith, 
he pursues the subject and says, " The Word of 



Dr. Wardlaw on Assurance, p. 104, 
6 



62 ASSURANCE OF HOPE, 

God says, in whom believing we rejoice ; I have 
peace and joy. To them that believe he is pre- 
cious ; Christ is precious to me. Faith worketh by 
love : / love God, Christ, his people, and holiness. 
This is the victory that overcometh the world, 
even our faith ; i" have overcome the world. We 
know that we have passed from death unto life, 
because we love the brethren ; I love the brethren 
— therefore I conclude I am a child of God. The 
fruits of my faith which I discern in myself, 
answer to the description of them given in the 
Word." 

It is not, then, by any such methods as by dreams, 
or the suggestions of texts of Scripture to the mind, 
or visions, or impressions upon the mind, or strong 
persuasions of our eternal election, that we are to 
obtain this blessed hope of personal interest in the 
mercies of redemption, but by comparing our 
hearts with the Word of God. I will here quote 
the beautiful language of the celebrated Ralph 
Cudworth, in a sermon preached before the House 
of Commons during the Commonwealth : " The 
way to obtain a good assurance of our title to 
heaven, is not to climb up to it by a ladder of our 
own ungrounded persuasions, but to dig as low as 
hell by humility and self-denial in our own hearts : 
and though this may seem the farthest way about, 
yet it is indeed the nearest and safest way to it. 
We must, as the Greek epigram speaks, ' ascend 
downward, and descend upward, "* if we would 
indeed come to heaven, or get any true persuasion 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 63 

of our title to it. The most triumphant confi- 
dence of a Christian riseth safely and surely on 
this low foundation, that lies deeper under ground, 
and there stands firmly and steadfastly. When 
our heart is once turned into a conformity with 
the Word of God, when we feel our will to con- 
cur with his will, we shall then personally per- 
ceive a spirit of adoption within ourselves, teach- 
ing us to say, Abba, Father. We shall not then 
care for peeping into the hidden records of eternity, 
to see whether our names be written there in 
golden characters: no, we shall find a copy of 
God's thoughts concerning us written in our own 
breasts. There we may read the characters of his 
favor toward us : there we may feel an inward 
sense of his love to us, flowing out of our hearty 
and unfeigned love to him. And we shall be more 
undoubtedly persuaded of it, than if one of those 
winged watchmen above, that are privy to heaven's 
secrets, should come and tell us that they saw our 
names enrolled in those volumes of eternity." 

In this way, and, as it appears to me, in this 
way only, is our personal interest in the blessings 
of salvation to be ascertained. It will be evident 
then, that our assurance will be more or less full, 
according to the measure of our piety. It admits 
of degrees of certainty, and these will be regulated 
by our degrees of vital, experimental godliness. 
Hence the force of the apostolical exhortation, to 
give all diligence to make our calling and our 
election sure : i. e., sure to ourselves, as a clear 



64 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

and well-attested fact, that we are called according 
to the purpose of God. 

It is an unquestionable fact, that many profes- 
sors have not yet attained to this comfortable per- 
suasion of their personal interest in Christ. Va- 
rious reasons may be assigned for this. Some 
ought not to have it, for they are professors only, 
and not partakers of divine grace. In them it 
would be only a lie in their right hand ; and cry- 
ing peace, peace, when they have no right to peace. 
Others are kept in doubt by physical obstructions 
to joy and hope : they are constitutionally gloomy 
and dejected. Little can be said to them but to 
encourage them, if they are walking consistently, 
to endeavor to distinguish between disordered 
nerves, and destitution of piety ; to hope against 
hope ; and, if possible, to increase their joy by the 
improvement of their health. It is dangerous 
advice, in most cases, to let our friends judge for 
us of so important a matter as our spiritual con- 
dition and safety ; but in the case of those to whom 
I am now alluding, the opinion of enlightened and 
judicious Christians, who think favorably of the 
state of the dejected, should have weight. Others, 
though not constitutionally depressed, are timid, 
hesitating and anxiously cautious ; and even in 
common matters, find it difficult sometimes to de- 
cide an important question. This oscitancy they 
carry into their religious matters, and are afraid of 
coming to the conclusion that they are Christians, 
lest, after all, they should deceive themselves. To 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 65 

their timorous minds it seems a kind of presump- 
tion for them to conclude that they are the children 
of G-od : a rash and unauthorized decision, from 
which they start back with trepidation and alarm. 
They view it merely in the light of a privilege 
which is granted to a favored few, but not an at- 
tainment within the reach of all, or a duty, the 
obligation to which all ought to feel. How mis- 
taken a view is this of the whole subject. It 
might surely be presumed that in every case of 
real scriptural piety, the subject of it would be 
able to ascertain his condition ; that no child in 
the family of God need be ignorant of his divine 
relationship. It must strike us as very strange 
that a renovation of character so great as that ef- 
fected in regeneration, should take place, and the 
recipient of it be unable to certify it. It cannot, 
therefore, be an unauthorized state of mind for 
any real and consistent Christian to arrive at, to 
know his heavenly birth, but what he should at- 
tain. Some, I fear, actually nourish doubts and 
fears as a mark of grace, and an evidence of hu- 
mility, and consider themselves in a more secure 
and salutary state for questioning their safety, than 
concluding upon it. If, indeed, they have not the 
evidence of true conversion, they ought to doubt, 
or ought rather to be assured that they are not 
Christians ; but I am now supposing the case of 
some good people, who, with the marks of true 
grace, and a consistent walk, are cherishing the 
error that it is safer to doubt than to decide. This 
6* 



€6 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

is a sad mistake and a proof of deplorable igno- 
rance of the Word of God. 

Others are engaged in a microscopic analysis of 
their feelings, and vary their opinion of their state 
with every vicissitude of their emotions. A little 
more or a little less fluency in prayer ; a greater 
or a less degree of enjoyment of a sermon ; a 
higher or lower measure of elasticity of the ani- 
mal spirits, produced by physical causes, raises 
or depresses their hopes, elevating them to confi- 
dence, or sinking them to despondency. Their 
opinions of their state are, therefore, in a state of 
perpetual vacillation. Their religious enjoyment 
is at the mercy of circumstances, over which they 
can exercise no control, and they are strangers to 
settled peace. If such persons would look less to 
themselves and more to Christ, they would be far 
happier. In some instances this propensity to be 
ever poring into the heart, is the remains of self- 
righteousness, leading them to look for comfort in 
themselves, rather than to Christ. Let them, by 
a calm, sober, impartial examination of their ha- 
bitual past conduct, come to a conclusion of their 
state, and not suffer that conclusion to be disturbed 
by every little variation of their feelings. Neither 
our character nor our safety is altered, or endan- 
gered, by all those minute changes of emotion 
which are ever going on in the heart of a believer. 
A man does not doubt that he is alive, or in gen- 
eral good health, every time his appetite is less 
keen, or his sleep less sound than usual : nor does 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 67 

he doubt the sincerity of his affection for his wife 
and children every time there is a less vivid sense 
of it than at other seasons. If in either case the 
symptoms of declension remain or increase, and 
are attended with other signs of decay, he has 
cause to take alarm. Thus should it be with be- 
lievers as to those passing varieties of frame which 
occur in the experience of the holiest and the best 
of men. Permanent and increasing declension is 
alarming and should awaken doubts, but not the 
occasional interruption of what is denominated, by 
not a very felicitous expression, " sensible comfort" 
There is, I am persuaded, often a neglect ot 
acknowledged duty, or the indulgence of known 
sin, at the bottom of those doubts and fears with 
which some professing Christians are troubled ; 
some secret, beloved, and unmortified corruption, 
against which conscience is raising its protesting 
voice, but from which the subject of it refuses to 
part. It may be laid down as a settled point that 
wilful sin must lead to darkness. No sentiment 
can be more unscriptural, none more irrational or 
more shocking, than that sin should never make a 
believer doubt of his state ; that whatever be the 
evils into which he falls, doubts and fears are only 
additions to his guilt ; that all his iniquities have 
been atoned for in the blood of Christ, and that 
therefore no sin should at any time trouble his 
spirit, or darken the light of his joy. This is the 
most monstrous and miserable of all delusions. " 
The man who comes to assurance, and maintains 



68 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

it, while his conscience testifies of him that he is 
habitually declining in religious affections, living 
in the habitual neglect of known duty, or in the 
indulgence of actual sin, is one of the most fear- 
ful instances of self-deception in our world. 

But there is still another class of professing 
Christians, who must confess, if they are asked, 
that they are strangers to this assured hope of 
eternal life, and it is a very large class too : I 
mean those whose piety, if admitted to be sincere, 
is so low and so lukewarm, as to yield but equivo- 
cal testimony to the reality of their heavenly birth. 
Swallowed up in business, personal or public; 
immersed in politics, national or municipal; or 
devoted to worldly ease and domestic enjoyment, 
they are living sadly below their principles, privi- 
leges, and professions. Who can wonder that 
they know little of the blessedness of a persuasion 
that they are interested in the great salvation. 
As a general description of their state of mind, I 
should say they take it for granted they are Chris- 
tians ; assume that they are born from above, and 
with this vague, unsustained, and careless con- 
clusion, pass on. But as to the sweet and consola- 
tory influence deduced from premises cautiously 
examined, that they are the children of God, and 
have no reason to doubt the momentous and de- 
lightful fact, they know nothing of this ; and hence 
when taken off from their usual pursuits, and 
shut up in the chamber of sickness, or laid upon 
the bed of death, how dark is their mind, how 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 69 

numerous and agitating are their doubts and fears, 
how distressing their solicitude ! It will not do, in 
such circumstances, to take it for granted, and 
assume, without examination, that they are Chris- 
tians:; they must have it proved, and they now call 
for evidence, and alas, how little can they find ! 
They pore into their hearts, they scrutinize their 
conduct, and sometimes hope they can discern the 
marks of the Spirit's work, the characters of re- 
generation, but, like a worn-out inscription, they 
are scarcely discernible, much less clearly legi- 
ble. Habitual worldly-mindedness has almost 
effaced those holy and heavenly dispositions which 
are the superscriptions of God's hand upon the 
human heart. 

Now then, my dear Triends, let me earnestly 
admonish you to comply with the apostolic in- 
junction, and give all diligence to the full assurance 
of hope unto the end. It cannot be obtained with- 
out diligence. There is a faith so strong, a love 
so fervent, and a hope so lively, that they prove 
their own existence, both to those who possess 
them, and to those who observe them. Shining 
substances need no other evidence of their existence 
than their own radiance. A man in full health 
needs no examination to demonstrate to him that 
he is alive and well ; he is conscious of it, for he 
feels it. So should it be with a Christian. Self- 
examination for the purpose of ascertaining whether 
or no he is a Christian, should be unnecessary for 
a child of God. But then, in order to this, his 



70 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

religion must be in a high state of vigor and pros- 
perity. He must ever remember the great design 
of the gospel, which is to establish a God-like 
frame and disposition of spirit, which consists in 
righteousness and true holiness in the hearts of 
men. " The grace of God that bringeth salvation, 
hath appeared unto all men, teaching us, that 
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should 
live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present 
world; looking for that blessed hope, and the 
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior 
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he 
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto 
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
Titus ii. 11-15. From this passage it is evident 
the design of Chris* in coming into our world, was 
not only to cast over us the purple robe of his 
righteousness, and hide our wickedness and de- 
formity from the eye of God's avenging justice, 
but also, like a good physician, to cure our moral 
diseases : and then may we be assured of our being 
in a state of salvation, when we are at once con- 
scious of a simple faith in his righteousness, and 
equally conscious of the spirit of holiness in our 
hearts, and the beauties of holiness in our charac- 
ter ; and " the least inward lust, willingly con- 
tinued in, will be like a worm fritting the gourd 
of our confidence, and presumptuous persuasion of 
God's love, and always gnawing at the root of it ; 
and though we strive to keep it alive, and con- 
tinually besprinkle it with some dews of our own, 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 71 

yet it will be always dying and withering in our 
bosoms. But a good conscience will be always a 
cordial to a Christian's heart : it will be softer to 
him than a bed of down, and he may sleep securely 
on it in the midst of raging and tempestuous seas, 
when the winds bluster, and the waves beat around 
him. A good conscience is the best looking-glass of 
heaven, in which the soul may see God's thoughts 
and purposes concerning it, as so many shining 
stars reflected from it." Hereby we know Christ: 
hereby we know that Christ loves us, if we keep his 
commandments. 

The end of the gospel is to make us holy, happy, 
and useful ; and assurance contributes to all these. 
Hope is a purifying grace, while despair is unholy, 
both in its nature, and in its tendency. He who 
has the most confident persuasion of his being a 
Christian now, and of his going on to heaven 
hereafter, and whose confidence rests on good 
ground, will be the holiest man. His assurance, 
sustained by holiness, will increase that which 
supports it. 

And then need I prove to you that assurance is 
the means of happiness ? The gospel is a system 
of joy, as its name imports : it was thus announced 
by the angels at the birth of Christ, " behold I 
bring you glad tidings of great joy ;" it is thus 
recognised by the apostle, when he says, " the 
kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost." This is implied, when we 
are so emphatically called upon " to rejoice in the 



72 ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 

Lord ;" all of which seem to import that the gen- 
uine right temper and frame of a truly Christian 
mind and spirit, may be evidently concluded to be 
an habitual joyfulness, prevailing over all the oth,er 
sources of human delight, and all the temporary 
causes of sorrow that occur in the world. I want 
you to enter deeply into this view of Christianity. 
I am anxious for you to be made happy by your 
religion. I am desirous that, as you travel to 
heaven, you should go on your way rejoicing: 
that in prosperity you should have a higher and 
holier source of enjoyment than providential fa- 
vors; and in adversity a spring of happiness, 
when the cup of earthly comfort has been dashed 
from your lips. This is to be found in assurance. 
Blessed state 3 to be a child of God, and to know it 
too ! to be going to heaven, and know it too ! to 
be an heir of glory, and have evidence of the fact ! 
"Well might the poet say — 

When I can read my title clear 

To mansions in the skies, 
I bid farewell to every fear, 

And wipe my weeping eyes. 

What sorrow need depress us ; what care waste 
us ; what danger appal us; what loss distress us, 
if assured of an interest in the blessing of salva- 
tion ! The man assured of heaven may look at 
poverty, sickness, and persecution, without dismay, 
yea, may smile in the face of death. Assurance 
has enabled the dying Christian to step without 
shrinking, into the cold dark waters of Jordan; 



ASSURANCE OF HOPE. 73 

confessors to sing in their dungeons, and martyrs 
to exult at the stake. 

Be, then, diligent to make your calling and elec- 
tion sure. If you are Christians, you may know 
and ought to know it. Be satisfied with nothing 
less. Pray for it, pray earnestly, constantly, be- 
lievingly. Beseech the Spirit of God to work all 
his works in you, and then to shine upon his own 
work, and enable you to draw the conclusion, that 
you are indeed a child of God, an heir of heaven. 
7 



74 PRACTICAL RELIGION BIUST 



No. V. 

PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST BE SEEN IN EVERY- 
THING. 

My dear Friends : It appears to me that many- 
persons are far too limited in their ideas of the 
nature, design, and extent of practical religion. An 
individual upon being reproached for some dis- 
honorable transaction in business as inconsistent 
with religion, replied, " What has religion to do 
with business V The answer demonstrated either 
his ignorance, or wickedness, or both. But, if we 
may judge from their conduct, this is the senti- 
ment of many professors, although, perhaps, they 
would not avow it. Are they not acting as if re- 
ligion had nothing to do either with business, with 
temper, or with our domestic and social relations ? 
As if it were a mere matter of opinion, devotion, or 
ceremony : a thing of the cloister, the closet, or 
the sanctuary, which is to be confined to its own 
retreats, and never to be allowed to approach the 
scenes of worldly business, and secular pursuits : 
a rule to direct us how we are to behave ourselves 
in the house of God, and to regulate our worship; 
and which, having done this, has accomplished its 
object ! Is not this, I say, the view which if we 
may judge by their behavior, many take of reli- 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 75 

Religion is a permanent, all-pervading, unchan- 
ging principle, possessing a kind of universality of 
nature. It must go with us, not only into the 
sanctuary of God, or into the closet of private de- 
votion, but into all places: it must regulate our 
conduct, not only toward the church, but toward 
the world : it must operate upon us and influence 
us, not only on sabbath, sacramental, and fast days, 
but at all times : and must dictate, not only how 
we pray, and read the Bible, and keep holy the 
Lord's-day, but how we buy, and sell, and get gain. 
Religon has no exclusive time, or place, or sphere, 
of its own, but is a matter of all times, places, and 
seenes. Though heavenly in her origin, her na- 
ture, and her destiny, she is not so purely ethereal 
as to turn away from the seenes of this low diur- 
nal sphere, as beneath her notice and unworthy 
of her control. " Wisdom crieth without ; she ut- 
tereth her voice in the streets ; she crieth in the 
chief places of concourse, in the opening of the 
gates ; in the city she uttereth her words. Prov. 
i. 20. 

The subject, then, of the present address is this, 
"Practical religion must be seen in everything." 

Consider your situation. You are united with 
society by various ties, and have corresponding 
duties to discharge, every one of which affords an 
opportunity for the exercise of religious principle. 
A man can as truly, though not as publicly and 
impressively, show his regard to principle and 
conscience, in theleast transaction of a secular na- 



76 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

ture, as at the martyr's stake. The various claims 
of society afford as correct a test of moral feeling, 
as the claims of the church of God. Religion 
must be co-extensive, not only with our whole 
nature as constituted of body and soul, and as 
speaking, thinking, feeling, acting agents, but with 
all our relations to the world around us. 

Diuell upon the commands of God. Take only 
two or three of these. What can be more ex- 
plicit than the summary of the moral law, which 
is given by Christ, in supreme love to God, and 
equal love to man. The second is as obligatory 
as the first, and love to man in all the varieties of 
its operations and manifestations, down to the 
most minute offices for his comfort, is as essential- 
ly a part of religion, as love to God. Read also 
the apostle's comprehensive and beautiful exposi- 
tion of this precept : " Love worketh no ill to his 
neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the 
law." Rom. xiii. 10. How explicit and minute 
is the direction given in Phil. iv. 8. Whatsoever 
things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of 
good report, think on these things. Observe, all 
these virtues relate to our conduct toward our fel- 
low-creatures ; and because there are some things 
we owe them which can be scarcely classified un- 
der any one of these particulars, the apostle puts 
in the general and delightful adjuncts, whatsoever 
things are tl lovely" and of " good report." And 
how impressive is the word, so frequently express- 
ed in the passage, " whatsoever things ;" as if he 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 77 

had said, " all that is or can be imagined to he 
claimed on the ground of justice, honesty, truth, 
purity ; everything which by common opinion is 
thought to be amiable, attractive, honorable, and 
praiseworthy, let this be done by those who bear 
the name of Christ." To this we may add one 
more passage, than which nothing can be said or 
thought of as more imperative on a professor, to 
let his religion shine out in everything : " Whether 
ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 
glory of God." 1 Cor. x. 31. 

It is apparent, then, that God has taken our 
conduct — not only in the church, but in the 
world; not only in the sanctuary, but in the place 
of worldly business; not only to our Christian 
brother, but to our unconverted neighbor; not only 
in our devotional, but our ordinary transactions — 
under his direction, and made it our duty to let our 
religion be seen in all. 

It may be useful if I here point out those mat- 
ters from which professors of godliness are too apt 
to exclude their religion, or in which, at any rate, 
they are not sufficiently careful to let it appear. 
They are ordinarily not deficient in their sabbath- 
day duties : they are regular in their attendance 
upon the services of the sanctuary; they are con- 
stantly present, -and apparently devout at the sa- 
cramental table ; they are perhaps often, or always 
to be found at prayer-meetings or weekly-sermons ; 
they keep up family- prayers ; they subscribe mon- 
ey to public institutions for the spread of the gos- 



78 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

pel; they imagine that they are spiritually ana 
heavenly-minded — but still there are some other 
parts of their conduct, in which their religion does 
not appear as it ought to do, nor is it any part of 
their care that it should, I mean their conduct tow- 
ard their neighbor and each other. You observe 
that all these points, in which I have supposed 
them to be attentive to their duties, relate to their 
conduct toward God : they are all matters of de- 
votion. But devotion is only a part of religion; 
love to our neighbor, as we have already consider- 
ed, is as truly a part of religion as love to God. 
Now it is really the case that there are many, who 
though very seemingly diligent in reference to the 
latter, are far too remiss in reference to the former. 
They attach great importance to spirituality, and 
heavenly-mindedness, at least, they talk much 
about them, but they are very lax in regard to 
some other things, which are as much their duty, 
as these more elevated and unearthly states of 
mind. Devotion is with them everything, but 
morality, in its higher, and more delicate, and re- 
fined character, is but lightly spoken of: they love 
God, but leave others, whom they are pleased to 
denominate legal, to love their neighbor. These 
persons are generally known by a peculiar taste 
in regard to preaching. The only sermons they 
relish, are those which are full of comfort; which 
are addressed exclusively to the children of God ; 
and which are of such a kind, as rather to excuse 
their imperfections, and make them happy in the 



BE SEEN IN EVERY THING. 79 

indulgence of their corruptions, than to lead them 
on to higher degrees of sanctification. The en- 
forcement of duty of any kind, even to God, is not 
a very welcome subject, but duty to man, is all 
legality and bondage. 

One matter which religion claims to regulate, 
but from which it is excluded by many persons, is 
our temper. If any one should be disposed to ask, 
" What has religion to do with temper ?" I will 
answer this question, by referring him to the thir- 
teenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corin- 
thians. The whole of this exquisitely beautiful por- 
tion of divine truth, refers to temper; and it is 
really very solemn to consider how imperatively 
and essentially necessary to salvation, the Holy 
Spirit makes the exercise of a good temper. The 
most splendid miracles, the most profound knowl- 
edge of sacred truths, the most consummate elo- 
quence in recommending them, the expenditure of 
a fortune in supporting them, and the martyr's 
death in attesting them, will, we are told, be of 
no avail to any one, if he have not the good tem- 
per there described. Nothing is religion in the 
absence of love ; nothing can fit us for heaven but 
love ; the very essence of religion is love to God 
for his own sake, and love to man for God's sake : 
we are to love our neighbor for God, and God in 
our neighbor. Can we love our neighbor, and yet 
indulge in habitual passion, malice, revenge ? Oh, 
how much dishonor is done to religion by the bad 
temper of its professors; by the petulance and 



80 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

peevishness of one, the passion of a second, the 
sullenness of a third, the obstinacy of a fourth, and 
the cherished resentment of a fifth. It is aston- 
ishing how any who habitually indulge in such 
dispositions, can imagine they are the children of 
the God of love, the followers of Him whose de- 
signation is " the Lamb," and the temples of that 
divine Spirit, whose symbol is a " Dove." I am 
aware that there is something physical in the 
cause of bad tempers, but they are still subject to 
moral control. It may be, that some find it much 
more difficult to restrain and manage their tem- 
per than others; and that some who take far 
more pains to govern their disposition, than those 
who are possessed of a natural amiableness, gain 
far less credit than the latter. The mischief and 
the blame lie in supposing that as bad tempers are 
inherent in us, their indulgence is inevitable, and 
therefore excusable. If this be correct, all sin is 
inevitable and excusable, for it is all inherent. If, 
then, you would prove your regeneration ; if you 
would carry on the work of sanctification ; if you 
would promote the mortification of sin; if you 
would not have darkness of mind, and distress of 
conscience ; if you would not grieve your fellow- 
Christians, and disturb the comfort of those around 
you, subdue and regulate your temper. A pro- 
fessing Christian, red and stormy with passion, 
pale with anger, furious with rage, is a most un- 
seemly spectacle. How can the love of God or 
jaaan be in such a h^eart? But it is not merely 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 81 

this excess of passion which is discreditable, but 
the waspishness, the touchiness, the moodishness, 
which many display, the sensitiveness and suscep- 
tibility to offence; in short, the being easily of- 
fended, which so many exhibit without an effort 
to resist it. Your profession requires, my dear 
friends, a constant resistance of such dispositions : 
and it is one great part of religion to keep up this 
resistance. Your piety and principle should be 
ever at hand for this purpose ; always nigh and 
ready to be applied, with all their mighty energies 
and motives, to suppress every rising unhallowed 
emotion. " Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, 
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; for- 
bearing one another, and forgiving one another, 
if any man have a quarrel against any; even as 
Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all 
things, put on charity, which is the bond of per- 
fectness. And let the peace of God rule in your 
hearts, to the which also ye are called in one 
body." Col. iii. 12, 15. This is the law of Christ, 
the rule of your conduct, the standard of your 
actions, the mould of your character. How tender 
the language, how touching the motives, how 
forcible the obligations ! Abjure, then, the idea 
that religion has nothing to do with temper; 
adopt the sentiment that your temper must be 
governed by your religion, and by importunate 
prayer, constant watchfulness, and laborious effort, 
seek after the meekness and gentleness of Christ. 



82 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

Another scene from which many are too apt 
to exclude their religion, but over the whole of 
which it should be seen to preside, is their ivorldly 
transactions. Religion not only conducts on the 
sabbath-day to the house of God, and there says 
to us, " Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, 
and into his courts with praise ;" but it also goes 
with us on Monday morning to the mart of busi- 
ness, and says to us, " Whatsoever things are true, 
honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, think 
on these things and practise them." Travellers 
tell us, that the Chinese set up the objects of their 
worship, not only in their temples, but in their 
shops. If, then, idolatrous Pagans place trade 
under the patronage and direction of religion ; if 
they acknowledge that their divinities take cog- 
nizance of secular concerns ; and that one part 
of divine service is justice to man, how much 
more should this be the case with Christians 1 . 
Yes, my friends, your religion must be seen by 
those who know you only as tradesmen, and have 
no opportunity of seeing you but in the shop. It 
must be at hand, ready for application to all the 
circumstances of life, and all the transactions of 
business. It must stand by in all sales, bargains, 
and contracts ; it must prevent all over-reaching 
undermining, and circumventing; all false de- 
preciation of the article you wish to purchase, and 
overpraising that which you desire to sell ; it 
must forbid all falsehood, fraud, and artifice ; all 
selfishness and grinding extortion; in short, all 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 83 

that kind of conduct which would make others 
afraid to deal with you, and give the stamp and 
stigma to your character of a " deep one," " a hard 
one," or " a slippery one." It is a disgrace to pro- 
fessing Christians to have either of these epithets 
applied to them. They should be distinguished by 
all that is just, true, generous, and noble. They 
are commanded to let their light shine before men. 
Now this can only be done by being exemplary in 
the discharge of those duties which fall under 
public observation. Although those who are 
conversant with you, may make shrewd guesses 
by what they see in your outward deportment, 
whether you are a man of devotional feeling, 
yet they cannot trace you to the family altar, 
or to the closet of private prayer, but they can 
and will quickly and certainly know whether you 
are true andjust y honest and upright, generous 
and trustworthy, or on the contrary, false and 
unjust, fraudulent and tricking, selfish and extor- 
tionate: and if they see a want of principle in 
your transactions, they will of course suspect a 
destitution of religion in your heart, and resolve 
the whole of your profession into disgusting and 
odious hypocrisy. Let religion then be seen in 
your business. 

The discharge of the duties of our social relar 
tions is another opportunity for exhibiting the 
influence of religion. Its excellence must be seen 
and its power felt, in making a happy home, and 
compelling a sojourner in the family, or a specta- 



84 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

tor of it, to exclaim, " How goodly are thy tents, 
Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel ! As the 
valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the 
river side, as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord 
hath planted, and as cedars beside the waters." 
Religion ought to give strength, tenderness, and 
sanctity, to all the ligaments of society. It should 
make husbands and wives more affectionate and 
devoted : parents more kind, judicious, and vigilant : 
and children more dutiful, respectful, and atten- 
tive : masters more kind and just : servants more 
submissive and faithful. Religion is intended to 
be the magistrate of the social body, and the head 
of the domestic circle. We should all discharge 
the duties of our station pio usly ; doing even com- 
mon things as to the Lord, and for the Lord's 
sake. Like the stars of heaven, we should not 
only shine, but each in his own sphere. If we 
are unamiable at home, there must be something 
essentially defective in our profession. 

Nor is it of small importance that our profession 
should be consistently maintained abroad, as well 
as at home. It must, as an integral part of our- 
selves, go with us everywhere, and abide with 
us where we abide. We must take it as our com- 
panion in travel, as our associate in public, as our 
bosom and inseparable friend. They who con- 
stantly see us at home, and occasionally meet us 
abroad, should recognise the same unaltered and 
unalterable character ; the same in the crowded 
metropolis, as in the retired village, and the same 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 85 

at the fashionable watering-place, as in the rural 
retreat. 

Religion should appear in our recreations and 
entertainments, separating us from the follies and 
amusements of the world ; allowing neither what 
is polluting, nor what is frivolous : not only keep- 
ing us from the theatre, the ball-room, and the 
public concert, but, preventing us from turning 
our own habitations into the resorts of fashion and 
the scenes of light and dissipating entertainments. 
If, in the seasons allotted to relaxation from worldly 
business, anything more be necessary than the 
cheerful and holy intercourse and conversation of 
the pious, then the beautiful scenery of nature^ 
the works of charity, the pursuits of science, or 
the exercises of devotion, should be enough. A 
Christian should appear to be a Christian, in his 
lighter as well as in his graver occupations. 

Nor should even our politics be placed beyond 
the control of our piety. A professor of religion 
has duties to discharge as a citizen, as well as a 
Christian, since he is a member of society at large 
as well as of the church : and it is a misguided 
sanctity, a spirit of fanaticism alone, that attempts 
to dissuade him from discharging the obligation 
he owes to the community. But then, he should 
act as a Christian, at the very time he is acting as 
a citizen. Instead of making his religion political^ 
he should make his politics religious. It ill be- 
comes a follower of Him whose kingdom is not 
of this.world 3 to be a furious political partisan, 



88 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

filled with hatred, malice, and all uncharitable- 
ness, toward those who differ from him : and 
who would not scruple to use any means, how- 
ever base, to ensure the success of his own party; 
nor is it less contrary to the Christian profession 
to be seduced from the path his conscience dic- 
tates, by the arts of corruption, or to be intimidated 
by the threats of power. Religion should induce 
a man to carry his conscience with him, as his 
guide and protector, into all the scenes and circum- 
stances in which he is required to act for his 
country, and he should ever give his voice or his 
vote, as he would do, if he knew he was to be 
called to account for that act the next moment, 
at the bar of God. 

But why do I particularize? I remind you 
again, your religion should be seen in everything ; 
in matters so great as to call for martyrdom, and 
so minute, as the least trifle of any single day's 
transactions. It does not consist, I repeat, merely 
of prayers, sermons, and sacraments, but of su- 
preme love to God, and equal love to man, running 
out into all the endless varieties of application and 
operation, of which these sacred affections are 
susceptible. Like the blood of our corporeal sys- 
tem, which does not confine itself to two or three 
large arterial ducts, but warms, vitalizes, and 
moves the man, and pours the tide of life and the 
impulse of activity through a thousand vessels, 
some of them almost too minute to be seen ; so 
religion is the sustaining, moving principle of the 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 87 

whole of the new man, which is renewed in 
knowledge and true holiness, after the image of 
him that created him : it is not to be confined to 
any special places, modes, or seasons of operation, 
but is to diffuse itself through all the thousand 
little acts that are every day performed, and in 
the performance of which we have an opportunity, 
and are under obligation to glorify God. 

But this is not how the matter is regarded by 
the generality of professing Christians, if, indeed, 
we may judge from their conduct ; for when re- 
ligion is mentioned, the only idea that many are 
apt to associate with that term, is the performance 
of devotional exercises, or the indulgence of de- 
votional feelings; forgetting that good temper, 
the payment of debts, the fulfilment of contracts, 
the forgiveness of injuries, the duties of home, 
and the conscientious use of the elective franchise, 
are as truly a part of religion as the observance 
of the sabbath, or the celebration of the Lord's 
Supper. 

And this is, in fact, the religion which the world 
expects of us. They demand of us, that we carry 
our religion into everything, whether ive meet 
the demand or not. Do they reproach us with 
inconsistency only when we neglect private or 
public prayer? O no. What do they know or 
care about such matters ? But when professors 
are passionate, revengeful, and malicious; when 
they are shuffling, artful, and fraudulent; when 
they are slippery, treacherous, and evasive ; when 



88 PRACTICAL RELIGION MUST 

they are unkind, unamiable, and oppressive, then 
they are ever ready with the taunt, " This is your 
religion is it V By which they mean to insinuate, 
that those who profess to believe in Christ for 
salvation, ought not thus to have belied a profes- 
sion which binds them to be holy in all manner 
of conversation. They never ask, " What has 
religion to do with business ?" if professors do. 

Consider how much injury has been done to 
the character of religion, by not taking this view 
of its universal dominion. One single defect has 
been enough, in some cases, to disparage a whole 
character: and one act of inconsistency, and that 
not a very considerable one either, has thrown its 
shadow over many excellences. It may be there 
were those who knew the individual by only that 
one transaction ; they knew nothing of his general 
character, or his many valuable qualities, but they 
saw him in that one act from which religion was 
unhappily excluded, and judging from the only 
evidence which has come before them, they are 
ready to condemn him as a base designing hypo- 
crite. 

What a beauty would invest the character 
which derives its symmetry from the pervading 
influence of true piety; the character in which 
religion is seen giving devotion and zeal to the 
Christian; justice and truth to the tradesman; 
patriotism and loyalty to the citizen ; affection to 
the husband; fondness to the father; gentleness 
to the neighbor; kindness to the master; and 



BE SEEN IN EVERYTHING. 89 

charity to all: in which religion regulates the 
whole series of words and actions, running through 
the whole tenor of the conduct, and dictating what 
is right to be done in the ten thousand little occur- 
rences that are ever transpiring in the business 
of life : what a character, I say, is this, in which 
all the greater virtues unite with all the lesser 
graces, and religion is the bond that holds them 
together. Such a character should every pro- 
fessing Christian present to the world, and he is 
no longer consistent with his profession, than 
while he is holding out such a pattern of excel- 
lence to mankind. 

Permit me then, my dear friends, in conclusion, 
to admonish you with great earnestness and so- 
licitude, to enter into the subject of this address. 
While you are intent on the acquisition of more 
and more of that Spirituality and Heavenliness 
of mind, and of the Assurance of Hope, which 
have been the subjects of the three preceding 
tracts, may you be equally solicitous to " let your 
light shine before men, that they seeing your good 
works, may glorify God your heavenly Father." 
Remember it is not religion as it appears in some 
few things, nor in many, but in all, that will do 
this. There can be here no compensatory process : 
no setting ofF excellences against defects ; no bal- 
ancing diligence in some matters against neglect 
in others. Depend upon it as a fact, that a partial 
religion, and a little of religion, dishonor God 
more than none at all. " Wherefore, my beloved 



90 PRACTICAL RELIGION fllTJST BE SEEN, ETC. 

brethren, be ye steadfast, immoveable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as 
ye know that your labor is not in vain in the 
Lord. Herein is your father glorified, that you 
bear much fruit. Then will you not be ashamed 
when ye have respect unto all his commandments. 
Do all this without murmurings and disputings, 
that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons 
of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked 
and perverse nation, among whom shine ye as 
lights in the world; holding forth the word of 
life ; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that 
I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." 
Phil. ii. 14-16. 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 91 

No. VI. 

HOW TO SPEND A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 

My Dear Friends : The design of the present 
address is to direct you " How to Spend a Profita- 
ble Sabbath." How rich a boon has celestial 
mercy bestowed upon our laboring, toil-worn world 
in the aay of sacred rest. What should we do, as 
regards either body or soul, without the sabbath, 
to invigorate the impaired energies of the one, and 
recruit the wasted piety of the other ? If the man 
of wealth and leisure, whose time is all his own, 
to spend it, if it please him so to do, in reading, 
meditation, and prayer, feels little need of such a 
season of repose, not so the tradesman, the servant, 
and the laborer. How sweet to them, as Saturday 
evening is closing upon them, and all the weari- 
ness of six days' labor is pressing them down, is 
the reflection, " To-morrow is the sabbath of the 
Lord." There is no need to prove to them by 
elaborate argumentation, that the sabbath is of 
perpetual obligation, for they cannot persuade 
themselves that He who hath loved them in Christ 
Jesus, would have left them without such an op- 
portunity as this affords, in their scene of toil, to 
dwell upon his love, and enjoy it; and hence, and 



92 HOW TO SPEND 

often as the season comes round, they meet its 
very dawn with the words of Watts — 
"Welcome sweet day of rest, 
That saw the Lord arise — 
Welcome to this reviving breast, 
And these rejoicing eyes." 

The various mental associations, equally serene 
and delightful — the hallowed pleasures — the re- 
collections and anticipations — the pure immortal 
hopes — the rapt exercises of devotion, which, like 
the day-spring from on high, bless the passing 
hours of the sabbath, and render it the best type 
of heaven itself, make it a blessing to the child of 
God, which he would not part with for ten thou- 
sand times the gain he could acquire by devoting 
it to business and to wealth : and his heart would 
claim it as a privilege to keep holy the sabbath- 
day, even if his conscience did not dictate it as a 
duty. 

If, my dear friends, you would keep up the 
power of godliness in your souls, if you would 
live by faith upon the Son of God, if you would 
overcome the world and set your affections upon 
things above, spend well your sabbaths. These 
are the days of the soul's gains ; her golden sea- 
sons for growing rich, in all that constitutes spirit- 
ual prosperity ; her times, not only for the enjoy- 
ment of devotion, but for gaining new light to 
guide the conscience, and fresh strength to invig- 
orate all her religious and moral principles. 
Religion would retire from the world with the 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 93 

sabbath, and would be feeble and sickly in the 
church, if, indeed, it could live even there, without 
the aids of this holy day. 

But how may our sabbaths be made profitable 
and pleasant to us ? 

1. By a deep impression of their inestimable 
value, and a great anxiety to spend them well. 
That which we esteem of no consequence, we 
shall be at no trouble to apply to any useful pur- 
pose. The first way, then, to spend a profitable 
sabbath, is real solicitude to do so. And are you 
destitute of this ? Taken up as you are with the 
cares, labors, and anxieties of the world ; urged 
by incessant demands upon your time ; distracted 
by various claims upon your attention by objects 
all around you, and worn down by labor day after 
day, till, if you were not too busy, you are too 
weary to meditate on things unseen and eternal, 
ought you not to be anxious about the improve- 
ment of your sabbaths ? Ought you not to he full 
of desire that these days may be well spent ? If 
they are lost to your soul's interests, nearly all 
time is lost, and no portion will be well employed 
for your eternal welfare. Professing Christians 
are not duly impressed, in general, with the im- 
portance of this matter. They complain how 
much their time and attention are occupied with 
this world's business through the week, and yet 
are not sufficiently impressed with the necessity 
and vast importance of spending well their 
sabbaths. 



94 HOW TO SPEND 

2. Endeavor, as much as possible, to keep up 
through the days and business of the week, a spirit- 
ual frame of mind. The great obstacle to the 
profit and pleasure of our sabbaths, is the intrusion 
of worldly thoughts and anxieties. These are 
the obscene birds which light upon the sacrifice, 
and which we find it so difficult to keep or drive 
away. Why is this ? Just because we suffer our 
minds to be so deeply, I may almost say wholly, 
occupied by earthly pursuits during the six days 
of labor. It is not safe nor proper to shove out 
our religion from working-days, and trust entirely 
for its preservation to the exercises of the sab- 
bath. We cannot easily make so sudden and 
entire a transition from things secular to things 
sacred, as to be wholly carnal and worldly up to 
Saturday night, and then entirely to throw 
off the world on Sunday morning, and be wholly 
spiritual through that one day. The day of devo- 
tion and the days of labor act and react upon 
each other ; they who would keep up their piety 
in the week, must be diligent in cultivating it on 
the sabbath, and they who would successfully 
cultivate it on the sabbath, must not let it down 
very low during the days of the week. It is a 
fatal error, and sad delusion, for a professor to 
quiet his conscience, when reproaching him for 
his backslidings of heart, by the answer, " Sun- 
day is coming, when I shall fetch up this lost 
ground," 

3. It is desirable, where it can be accomplished. 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 95 

to end the business of the iveek early on Saturday 
evening, and thus secure a portion of time for re- 
flection and devotional exercises. Unhappily, the 
modern habits of trade render this all but impos- 
sible with many, who are kept hard at work till 
almost, if not quite sabbath morning, and then 
retire to rest so jaded, that they find it difficult to 
rise early next day for the worship of God. But 
where time can be commanded, it ought to be, and 
an extra half hour or hour spent in the closet on 
the eve of the sabbath, communing with God, the 
Bible, and our hearts. It was the custom of the 
Christians in America, at one time, to begin the 
sabbath at sunset on Saturday evening. This 
cannot and need not be done, but they who would 
enjoy and improve the season of holy rest, should 
not, if they could help it, drive business or social 
festivities to a late hour on Saturday evening. 
That evening ought not to be a visiting time, 
except it be such visits as would prepare the mind 
for sabbath occupations. Should a few pious 
friends in the same neighborhood determine to 
meet at that time for prayer and Christian com- 
munion, this would be not only proper in itself, 
but a useful method of preparing for the exercises 
of the sacred day. 

4. We must not only abstain from worldly labor 
on the sabbath, if we would improve it to any 
spiritual purpose, but from worldly thoughts, 
When the tradesman closes his shop on Saturday 
evening, he should lock up in it all his worldly 



yb HOW TO SPEND 

thoughts and anxieties, plans and purposes, nor 
suffer any of them, if possible, to escape, to molest 
him on the sabbath. An eminently holy friend 
of mine who carried on trade in London, and 
lived in its environs, used to say, " He always left 
his business on Saturday evening on London bridge, 
to be taken up there again on Monday morning." 
This is a blessed kind of self-control, and to a 
considerable extent may be acquired by labor and 
prayer. Let the tradesman say, and try to give 
effect to his saying, " I will leave my business in 
my shop on the eve of the sabbath, and endeavor 
to forget on that sacred day that I have a busi- 
ness." Of course it will require great pains, but 
if such pains are taken, it may and will be done* 
Oh, how many turn the house of God into a house 
of merchandise, and while hearing sermons, or pro- 
fessedly joining in prayer, or receiving the sacra- , 
mental emblems, are thinking about buying and 
selling, and reflecting upon the business of the past 
week, or making arrangements for that of the 
coming one ! How sinful is this in the sight of 
God, what a detriment to religion, and an injury 
to the soul ! If you would keep away worldly 
thoughts, do nothing to produce them. Never 
open business-letters on the sabbath, nor even 
have them brought to your hands. It is a great 
reproach for professing Christians to be seen going 
to the postoffice for or with their letters on the 
sabbath. Do not converse with others about trade 
and politics on the day of rest, and never touch a 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 97 

newspaper. Such practices turn away the mind 
from spiritual things, and divert the whole current 
of its thoughts. There can be no real communion 
with God, no steadfast beholding the things that 
are unseen and eternal, if we thus keep the world 
at our elbow, and place its objects before our eyes. 
We must endeavor, as much as possible, to divest 
ourselves of a secular frame of mind, and put on 
a holy, serious, and devout one. Not that we 
should be gloomy and sad : no, while every dream 
of levity, every trifling disposition, every feeling 
of unhallowed mirth, is suppressed, and the mind 
is resolutely and conscientiously directed toward 
religious truth and duty, the sabbath, seeing it is 
a feast and not a fast, and a festival of great and 
lasting interest, should be a day of cheerful grat- 
itude, and of joyous thanksgiving, as becomes the 
auspicious season, which the great Spirit of the 
universe has set apart for receiving the homage of 
his creatures, and for ratifying his grace to the 
children of the dust. " It is not for Israel in the 
hour of hope, in the prospect, yea, the possession 
of redemption, to hang their harps upon the wil- 
lows, as if nothing befitted their condition, but 
silently and in sorrow to listen to the sullen mur- 
murs of the waters of Babylon." — "Rejoice in 
the Lord. Enter into his gates with thanksgivings, 
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful 
unto him and bless his name." The Christian, 
always cheerful, should let his joy not only be felt, 
but seen on the sabbath. If he is the head of a 
9 



98 HOW TO SPEND 

family, he sliould illumine his dwelling on that 
day especially, with the light of his countenance, 
and present to his children and his servants, who 
then have a nearer and better opportunity of ob- 
serving what manner of man he is, the type of 
happiness and holiness; the gladsome spectacle 
of one who, in the passing hours of an earthly 
sabbath, realizes the emblem and the pledge of 
" the rest remaining for the people of God." 

5. If we would spend a profitable sabbath, we 
must not waste " the sweet hour of prime" in sloth- 
ful indulgence upon our bed. They who sleep 
away the morning till they have scarcely time to 
get ready for public worship, can expect no benefit, 
for they seek none, from the ordinances of God's 
house. Early rising is essential to a devotional 
spirit. If we secure no portion of time for private 
prayer before breakfast, we can rarely get any 
through the day. The sabbath is the last day 
we should allow to be abridged by lengthened 
slumbers. If, then, you would spend well this 
holy season, say, as did the Psalmist, " My heart 
is fixed, God, my heart is fixed, I will sing and 
give praise. Awake up, my glory ; awake, psaltery 
and harp ; I myself will awake early." Awake 
to prayer, reading the Scriptures, and meditation. 
Arise to seek the favor of God. " His morning 
smiles bless all the day." Be found at his foot- 
stool wrestling for his grace to come upon your 
souls in the ordinances of religion. Can he who 
goes prayerless to the sanctuary expect to be 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH, 99 

blessed in it ? What right or what reason has he 
to look for favor from the Lord, who will not sacri- 
fice half an hour's sleep to seek it by prayer ? 
The slothful Christian can no more expect to 
prosper, than the slothful tradesman. On the 
other hand, what a rich communication of light, 
and love, and joy, might he not look for, who 
rises early to obtain it by supplication, and who 
always goes from the closet to the sanctuary. 

6. If we would gain benefit by the word, we 
must make our profiting the specific object of hear- 
ing it preached. By profiting I mean our growth 
in religious knowledge, affection, and practice ; 
in other words, the increase of our holiness, spirit- 
uality, and heavenly-mindedness. In nothing, I 
believe, are professing Christians more deficient 
than in their manner of, and motives for attend- 
ing the public means of grace. It is painful and 
humiliating to think how extensively the gratifica- 
tions of taste, and the pleasure produced by elo- 
quence and oratory, are substituted for the cultiva- 
tion of the mind in scriptural truth, and the im- 
provement of the heart in Christian excellence. 
To be pleased, and not to be profited, is the object 
of the multitude. Hence the question, so often 
asked of those who have been listening to the 
solemn truths of salvation and eternity, " Well, 
how have you been pleased to-day ?" And hence 
also, the common answer to such an inquiry, " 
greatly delighted. It was a most eloquent ser- 
mon. " Pleased we may and ought to seek to be, 



100 HOW TO SPEND 

but only as we are profited. Eloquence we may 
covet and admire; but then it should be the 
eloquence of truth, and not of mere rhetoric ; the 
eloquence which makes us hate sin, love God, 
and mortify our corruptions ; the eloquence which 
leaves us neither time nor disposition to praise, 
or scarcely think of the preacher, but absorbs us 
in the subject; the eloquence which burns into 
the very heart and consumes our lusts, and stimu- 
lates and strengthens our virtues ; the eloquence 
of the Bible, and not of the school-book. What 
sabbaths we should spend, if before we left our 
habitations to take our seats in the house of God, 
we entered our closet, and, as in the presence of 
God, solemnly placed such questions as these to 
our souls : " What is, or should be my object in 
going to the house of God to-day ? Am I going 
to be pleased or profited ? Is it my wish to hear 
the preacher merely, or his Master ? Is it the 
manner in which the truth is to be stated, or the 
matter of the truth itself, that I am anxious to 
hear ? And what is now the state of my soul, 
and what are my wishes in reference to it ? Do I 
want my lukewarmness to be kindled into the 
glow of holy love ? Bo I desire my corruptions 
to be mortified, and my languishing graces to be 
revived ? Do I seek the conquest and eradication 
of some besetting sin, and am I prepared to be 
pleased with any sermon, though destitute of all 
the attractions of eloquence, that will accomplish 
this object ?" The Christians who take this view 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 101 

of the end of preaching ; who go to hear God's 
truth and not mere eloquence ; who, while hear- 
ing, consider that it is God speaking to them by 
and through his minister ; who pray while they 
hear, and whose prayer it is, that they might be 
profited ; the seare the persons who spend not only 
pleasant but improving sabbaths. 

7. Much of the improvement of our sabhaths 
depends on the state of our minds during what 
may he called the devotional exercises ; I mean 
the prayers and the singing. If we consider these, 
as too many do consider them, only supplemental 
and inferior parts of the service, in which we 
have little interest, and which require but little 
attention, we shall not derive much spiritual ad- 
vantage from the ordinances of God's house, and 
the occupations of the day of rest. It is to be 
feared, that a sinful vagrancy of thought, which 
they take no pains to check, characterizes the 
frame of many persons during the season of prayer; 
and that at the very time the cloud of incense is 
rising before the throne of heaven, their mind is 
wandering to the very ends of the earth, and 
instead of communing with God upon the mercy- 
seat, they are conversing with the most trifling, 
perhaps, with sinful objects. The prayers, if they 
are such as should be presented, simple, fervent, 
devout ; and the singing, if it be such as alone 
ought to be conducted in the house of God, con- 
gregational, plain, solemn, have a peculiar adapta- 
tion to give intensity to the devout feelings of the 
9* 



102 HOW TO SPEND 

heart, and to promote our personal piety; and 
those persons will profit most, who endeavor to 
enter deeply into all the sentiments and emotions 
of these parts of the worship of God. 

8. In order to spend a profitable sabbath, great 
care ought to be taken to improve well the interval 
of public worship. It should be our aim, where 
the matter is within our choice, not to live at too 
great a distance from the sanctuary; much time 
is lost, much distraction of mind is produced, 
much weariness of mind is brought on, by not 
attending to this, and the mind is prevented by 
fatigue when it reaches the house of God from 
enjoying its ordinances, and by the same cause, 
from profitable reflection on returning home. We 
should not suffer the impressions produced by 
public worship, to be effaced by general conversa- 
tion on our way to our own habitation, or around 
our own table. On reaching our place of abode 
we should seek the retirement of the closet^ to 
recall what we have heard; to perpetuate by 
reflection our feelings, convictions, and purposes; 
and to sanctify all by prayer. Instead of wishing 
to indulge our appetite by a warm and plentiful 
dinner, in the preparation of which we have de- 
prived our servants of their day of rest, we should 
be content with simple and cold fare, and consider 
the sabbath as a day rather to feast the mind, 
than the body. The afternoon should not be 
spent in lounging over the table and the wine, but 
partly in meditation and private praver ; partly in 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 103 

'tratechising the children ; and partly, where it can 
"be enjoyed, in domestic psalmody and thanksgiv- 
ing. Every family should be a choir, where there 
is a capacity for vocal music, and, in order to this, 
it would be desirable that singing should be more 
cultivated than it is. If, instead of our sons and 
our daughters being trained to music, merely as a 
drawing-room accomplishment, and for the pur- 
pose of having their simplicity corrupted, and 
their vanity flattered by showing them off before 
company, they were trained for domesnc harmony, 
to what a holy and happy account might their 
musical talent and acquirements be turned ! What 
harmony is sweeter, if that of the great congrega- 
tion be grander, than the dulcet sounds which 
gladden the habitation of a pious family on the 
Christian sabbath, when parents and children blend 
their vocal and instrumental music in the praise 
of Almighty God, and the Lord Jesus Christ:! 

9. Before the day quite departs, and sleep 
-drowns in oblivion, or only keeps alive in dreams, 
the solemn engagements and topics which have 
filled its fleeting hours, we should be found again 
in our closets, reviewing the whole, and pouring 
over all the silent and dewy influence of prayer: 
this being done, then taking care, as the last duty 
of the day, as we lay our head upon our pillow, 
and resign ourselves to slumber, to fall asleep 
with the petition, "Seal instruction upon my 
heart, God, and let my profiting appear unto 
all men." 



104 HOW TO SPEND 

10. One more step should be taken, and that is, 
to secure a portion of time on the Monday morn- 
ing before we replunge into the business, and 
labors, and anxieties of the world, to look back 
on the day that is past, for the double purpose, 
first, of recalling the views, emotions, and pur- 
poses, that were suggested by the services of the 
sanctuary, and the sabbath ; and then, of settling 
with ourselves a plan for reducing them all to 
action. 

There are one or two classes of Christians, who 
perhaps may feel that the foregoing remarks are 
not so applicable to them as to some others, and 
to whom, therefore, I would now suggest a few 
hints. Many Sunday School Teachers happily 
know by experience the value of the sabbath, but 
are in danger of losing something of its enjoy- 
ment, and even of its improvement, by the bustle 
and labors of their office. It is, I am aware, an 
act of self-denial, and no small sacrifice, to surren- 
der the calm repose of the closet and the sanctu- 
ary, for the active, and sometimes harassing duties 
of the school-room and the class. You, my young 
friends, need great care, lest you lose the profit 
of the sabbath for yourselves, while you are seek- 
ing to render it profitable to others. Rise early 
in the morning for meditation and prayer, before 
you go to the scene of your labors. Endeavor to 
discharge your duties to the children in a spirit 
of seriousness and prayer. Avoid all trifling con- 
versation with your fellow-teachers. Let the 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 105 

intervals of worship be well employed in retire- 
ment, and try as much as possible to keep your 
attention fixed on the sermon and the prayers in 
the house of God, even when seated amid your 
youthful charge. Endeavor, in humble depend- 
ance upon the Spirit of G-od, to be useful, and 
then, "in watering others, you shall yourselves 
be watered." 

The poorer members of the church demand a 
little special attention. Be you, my dear friends, 
peculiarly thankful for this short, sweet respite 
from the curse denounced on fallen man — "In 
the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread until 
thou return unto the ground." Enter into God's 
merciful provision for your comfort, and do every- 
thing to enjoy and improve the season of rest. 
Let everything necessary to be done for the order, 
comfort, and cleanliness of the family^ be finished 
on the Saturday evening, and even the food pre- 
pared for the sabbath's repast. Let not the hus- 
band deprive the wife of her day of repose by 
requiring her to give up her attendance upon 
public worship, or if detained at home by young 
children, to endure the additional privation of 
losing her opportunities of private and solitary 
devotion, in order to gratify his palate by a warm 
dinner. Nor should the husband refuse to take 
his turn in looking after the house and the young 
family at home, that his wife may have an oppor- 
tunity to enjoy the refreshing influence of public 
worship, and " the communion of saints." Few 



106 HOW TO SPEND 

persons are more to be pitied than the poor 
mothers of young families, who are united to hus- 
bands, that have not tenderness enough to give 
their wives a share of the sabbatical privilege. 
Let such women, amid all their privations, keep 
up the expectation of "the rest tH.t remaineth 
for the people of God." Yes, heaven is an eternal 
sabbath. There the wicked cease from troubling 
and the weary are at rest. No domestic cares 
shall follow you there. No family labors or duties 
shall there detain you from the assembly of the 
saints. No ungenerous husband shall there hinder 
you from going to the sanctuary of God. No in- 
firm body shall obstruct your enjoyment, or be a 
clog upon the spirit that would otherwise mount 
on the wing of devotion to God its supreme good. 
Eternity shall roll on, and its repose shall never 
be broken in upon by a single sorrow, sin, or 
labor : your soul shall end its weary pilgrimage, 
and lie down to rest for ever in the presence of 
God, where there is fulness of joy, and at his 
right hand where there are pleasures for ever- 
more. 

In such manner, my dear friends, we may spend 
our sabbaths upon earth both pleasantly and profit- 
ably : and spend them in the prospect and hope 
of a heavenly and eternal one, and in preparation 
for its exalted services, and its complete felicity. 
The sun of that day shall never set ; its holy con- 
vocation shall never break up; and its services 
never know a termination, an interruption, or in- 



A PROFITABLE SABBATH. 107 

termission. " Remember therefore the sabbath- 
day to keep it holy." — " Let its high and sacred 
character be ever present to your minds, persuaded 
that it was appointed for no trivial purposes — 
that if there are benefits of a subordinate nature 
to be derived from it, such as the respite afforded 
by it, from the labors of the week, these are not 
its most noble distinctions ; but that it is an institu- 
tion founded by a mandate of the Deity to secure 
from oblivion the most momentous facts, and to 
exist throughout all generations, a memento of 
the creation of the world by the power of Grod, 
and the salvation of man by the death of Christ. 
Let the day, therefore, which testifies to the world 
that God is righteous, powerful, and good; and 
tfrat man is redeemed, and immortal, be spent in 
a manner correspondent with these stupendous 
facts." 



208 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

No. VII. 

CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

My Dear Friends : " She did what she could." 
Such was the testimony borne by Christ to Mart, 
the sister of Lazarus, when she poured upon his 
sacred person her alabaster-box of precious oint- 
ment. Mark xiv. 1-9. What an eulogium ! And 
from such lips too ! Blessed woman ! unknown, 
perhaps, beyond the boundaries of her own village, 
little did she imagine, when she was filling the room 
with the perfume of her unguent, that she was per- 
forming an act which would fill the world with the 
fragrance of her memory. How much greater the 
honor of anointing Jesus to his burial, in one of 
the humblest cottages of Bethany, than to be 
anointed upon the proudest throne that ever glit- 
tered with the gold of Ophir. So true is it that 
piety immortalizes its subject, and invests every 
one who practises it with a deathless renown. 
Such was the ardor of this woman's love and 
gratitude to her Savior, that, in order to express 
her emotions, she ventured to the very verge of 
the rules of decorum, and, disregarding the curi- 
ous eyes and censorious tongues of both the host 
and his guests, she lavished her box of precious 
ointment upon the body of her Lord. Yes, it was 
love to Christ that prompted this act, and the 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 109 

love of Christ to this daughter of Abraham, which 
bestowed upon her the token of his gracious ap- 
probation, which is to be seen and read by all 
men. Whether he meant, as in the case of the 
poor widow, she gave all she had, or simply, that 
regardless of the cost of the ointment, and with- 
out stopping to examine whether she could afford 
it or not, she brought it as the highest testimo- 
nial she could give of her love to Christ, and of 
her desire to honor him to the extent of her pow- 
er, it is of no consequence to inquire ; in either 
case, it was a costly expression of the purest and 
the strongest affection; 

This act of Mart suggests a series of evangel- 
ical remarks, and of consecutive and important 
queries. 

All true believers are under infinite obligations 
to Christ. Take your station at the cross in the 
hour and scene of his redeeming agony, and hear 
the voice which asks : " How much owest thou 
thy Lord?" Thence go and place yourselves 
in imagination on the borders of the bottomless 
and naming pit whence he has delivered you, 
still followed by the question, " How much owest 
thou thy Lord ?" And then ascend to the celes- 
tial city, and with all its honors, and felicities 
spread around you, once more hear the voice, 
"How much owest thou thy Lord ?" 

A Christian's soul ought ever to be filled with a 
sense of his obligations to Christ, and fired with 
the love and gratitude they should inspire. In his 
10 



110 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATION'S. 

history there should be no seasons of forgetfulness, 
or of coldness toward the Lord that bought him, 
but he should be constrained always, by the love 
of Christ. 

His love to the Savior should ever prompt the 
inquiry : " What shall I render unto the Lord for 
all his benefits toward me." If in a right state of 
mind, he is not content with the inquiry: " What 
shall I feel ; or what shall I say for Christ ; but 
what shall I do ?" Love is practical, and so is 
gratitude. It is more, it is diligent, laborious, in- 
genious, self-denying. If we love a friend, or 
feel grateful to a benefactor, we ask ourselves, 
and ask others, what we can do to please him. 
We get a knowledge of his tastes, wishes, predi- 
lections, and then do something that we suppose 
will be pleasing, welcome, and acceptable to him. 
Thus Mary acted. She looked round on her lit- 
tle possessions, with the question, " What can I 
do or give to my Lord." The alabastobox 
caught her eye, and she exclaimed : " It is pre- 
eious and costly ; and for thai very reason he ,il 
have it." So should the Christian act. 

Having found out what he can do, and what 
he imagines will oe acceptable to Christ, he should 
promptly anu cheerfully do it, however laborious, 
self-denying, or expensive it may be. " Oh what 
has he not given to me ?" he exclaims, " his life, 
his death ; his cradle, his cross ; his agony, and 
bloody sweat; and what can I withhold from 
Inmr 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. Ill 

Everything a Christian does for Christ, should 
be done from a pure principle of love and grati- 
tude. Nothing should be done from vanity or a 
regard to fame ; nothing from pride and ostenta- 
tion; nothing from self-righteousness: nothing 
from compulsion ; but all from love, and gratitude, 
and conscience. 

I make one more remark, and it is, that there 
is always, and especially in this age, ample oppor- 
tunity for a Christian to shoiv, by substantial acts, 
his love to Christ. It is true Christ is no longer 
upon earth going about doing good, and therefore 
we cannot now open to him our door, spread for 
him the table, make for him a feast, or anoint his 
head with precious ointments ; but though he has 
ascended on high, he has left behind him two 
representatives — His members, and His cause. In 
reference to the former, he has most explicitly 
told us, that " whatever we do unto the least of 
them," he takes as done unto himself. Matthew 
x. 40-42; xxv. 35-45. All Christians have an 
opportunity of doing something for Christ in the 
way of comforting his sorrowful, relieving his 
necessitous, or restoring his backsliding disciples. 
Brotherly love is love to Christ. And it is not, 
perhaps, sufficiently considered by professing Chris- 
tians, what an emphatic expressions this is, of our 
attachment to the Savior, or how kind he takes it 
of us, to act kindly toward his people. If a moth- 
er considers every act of favor shown to her child 
as shown to herself, how much more does Christ 



112 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

regard the benefits bestowed upon his people as 
bestowed upon him; for what is a mother's love 
to that of a Savior's ? 

But beside the members of his mystical body, 
Christ is also represented upon earth by his cause. 
The cause of true religion is the cause of Christ : 
its doctrines speak of him, its precepts refer to 
him, its institutes commemorate him. He is the 
end and object of all. This cause is promoted in 
various ways ; by the preaching of the gospel, 
and of course the education of preachers ; by the 
support of Christian missions ; by the circulation 
of the Scriptures and religious tracts ; by the edu- 
cation of children and adults ; and numerous other 
methods. "Whatever means are employed to dif- 
fuse the knowledge and promote the influence of 
true religion, if done from love to Christ, is of 
course an expression of attachment to him. 

It is evident, therefore, that every Christian can 
do something for Christ. No individual is so 
poor, so illiterate, so obscure, as to have no oppor- 
tunity of performing any substantial acts of ser- 
vice for the Redeemer. God has not placed a 
single disciple in a situation, where nothing can 
be done for Christ. Some have more opportuni- 
ties than others ; but all have some opportunity. 
To one is given ten talents, to others five, and to 
all besides, one. There is no monopoly of the 
honor of doing good; no chartered company of 
philanthropists ; no patentees of mercy. To do 
something for spreading the cause of Christ, as a 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 113 

duty, is binding on every man's conscience, and 
every woman's too ; and, as a privilege, is within 
the reach of every one's desire. The peasant and 
the mechanic; the man-servant and the maid- 
servant; the pauper and the cripple, may all do 
something for the Lord Jesus. If they cannot 
give pound they can give pence ; if they cannot 
influence and move a multitude, they can, per- 
haps, influence some individual ; if they have not 
great abilities, they have some. No, none that 
love Christ can honestly say, he has given them no 
opportunity to serve his cause. Take the case of 
a laboring man, and see in how many ways even 
he can act for Christ: he can train up his children 
in the fear of God; set an example of religion to 
his neighbors; persuade some that neglect the 
house of God to accompany him to public wor- 
ship; rebuke the sinner in his ways; subscribe 
his own penny, and gather the pence of others for 
a religious society ; distribute religious tracts ; visit 
the sick to talk and pray with them : all these 
things he can do, and others which a little inge- 
nuity can invent for his own peculiar situation. 

I want to take from every one the dead weight 
of helplessness and uselessness, which hangs 
about them to depress and discourage them, and 
to excite a holy and laudable sense of their just 
importance, and that there is some post for them 
to occupy, and some work for them to do in our 
world. In every manufactory there is something 
for the child, as well as the adult ; and in every 
10* 



114 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

machine something for the least pin, as well as 
the flywheel, to do. None are useless, nothing 
is superfluous. This is encouraging, and at the 
same time stimulating to the poor, for whom I 
write, as well as for the rich. Jesus Christ has 
given a duty to every man, and expects every man 
to do his duty. God's voice says : " A great work 
is to be done on the earth. Do something. All 
do it. Do something, do it." Let no man reply, 
"Jean do nothing." 

I now go on to propose a series of consecutive 
and important questions. What have you done 
for Christ ? What have you done compared 
with your obligations, your opportunities, your 
professions ? Look back upon your life and course 
of action; examine your creed; consider what 
you have professed to Christ and before the world ; 
recollect all the opportunities of usefulness that 
God has thrown in your way ; calculate the re- 
sources he has placed at your disposal; and then 
ask yourselves the solemn question: "What have 
I done ?" Look at what others have done, with, 
perhaps, far less opportunity or ability than you, 
and again ask the question : " What have I done ?" 
Sum it all up, and what does it amount to ? Is 
there a soul in heaven, or in the way to it, whom 
you have sent there ? Have you made any direct 
effort to save a soul ? What have you done in 
the way of property, exertion, influence, compared 
with what you might have done, and should have 
done? 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 115 

What are you now doing for Christ ? What 
course or scheme of usefulness does this address 
find you pursuing? What institution points to 
you as one of its active and liberal supporters ? 
What plan of modern benevolence, and Christian 
enterprise is indebted to you for counsel, property, 
labor, and time, and regards you as one of its main 
pillars ? Where are you, in what part of the great 
field of the world are you working, and what work 
are you doing ? Perhaps you say : " I love to 
work alone, and am not fond of these confedera- 
tions." Very well. Choose your own way of do- 
ing good, so as you do it. What then are the ob- 
jects of your silent and solitary benevolence, and 
the channels through which you are pouring the 
streams of your mercy ? 

What can you do ? This is a most momentous 
question, and should neither be dismissed hastily, 
nor answered carelessly. It requires great seri- 
ousness of inquiry, diligence of investigation, and 
cautiousness of research ; and, moreover, much 
self-knowledge, modesty, and impartiality. " Can,' 
and " cannot," are small, frequently-repeated, and 
seemingly very insignificant words ; but, in reali- 
ty, they are immensely important, and ought not 
to be pronounced in haste or in levity. When we 
say "cannot" energy is paralyzed, and effort is 
suspended. We have pronounced a thing to be 
impossible, and who attempts impossibilities? 
Let us be cautious how we say "cannot." When 
we say "can," we become responsible, for this 



116 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

little monosyllable measures our accountability. 
We then utter a word which should be followed 
by action. What then can you do for Christ? 
Inquire, examine, study, and pray for light. In- 
vestigate your circumstances, situation, abilities, 
resources, opportunities. Perhaps you have prop- 
erty, yet but little talent for speaking; well, give, 
then, and give the more from the consideration 
that you cannot do anything else. Give what you 
can, and beware how you limit what you can give. 
Think how much you can give, not how little. Re- 
member God knows what you can give. Look 
round upon your property with the word " can" 
upon your lips. But perhaps you have not much 
property, but you have ability to influence others. 
Employ it, then, exert it to the uttermost, and the 
more because you have no wealth of your own to 
give. It may be you have talents for speaking ; 
well, speak, then, for Christ, not for self under 
the impulse of vanity, but for Christ. Or you 
have a tact for business ; then go to committees, 
and act there humbly, laboriously, unostentatious- 
ly. You are young, and can employ yourself as 
a Sunday school teacher; go, without delay, to 
this scene of useful occupation. Or you can dis- 
tribute tracts, or read the Scriptures to the poor, 
or collect moneys ; do it, then. But it is needless 
for me to enumerate and specify, if you will but 
take up the question : " What can I do ?" If 
there be but a sincere desire to do something, and 
to do all you can, ingenuity would soon come to 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 117 

your help, and you would be astonished to find out 
what and how much you can do. Do not say, 
<{ What can others do ?" but " What can I do ?" 
nor, " What could J do if others would do their 
duty ?" but, " What can I do by myself and with- 
out them ?" 

What ought you to do? Here is another im- 
portant word, "ought." This is the rule of du- 
ty : it means all a man can do, and will be con- 
demned for not doing. To the question, what 
ought you to do, I answer: " All you can do." 
This is demanded by Christ. And he set you the 
example, for he did all he could for your salvation. 
Conscience, gratitude, justice, love, demand it of 
you. 

What will you do ? What from this hour will 
you determine to do ? Will the past effort satisfy 
you ? Does it satisfy you ? What, have you done 
enough for Christ ? Stop before you answer that 
question. Let me take you again to the cross, to 
the borders of the pit, to the world of glory, and, 
in sight of those stupendous scenes, let me ask 
you : " Have you done enough for Him who thus 
loved you?" What should satisfy the man, as 
the sum total of his efforts for Christ, who knows 
and feels that he owes his deliverance from eter- 
nal torment, and his salvation to eternal glory, to 
his amazing and unutterable love? What will 
satisfy him? Begin afresh from the reading of 
this address, to study your obligations to Christ ; 
to fathom the depth of misery from which he has 



118 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

delivered you; to measure the height of glory to 
which he is advancing you, and all by his dear 
cross, and then inquire by what new and more em- 
phatic way you shall testify your love to Christ ; 
by what new scheme of usefulness you shall seek 
to express the sense you bear of his sovereign 
and amazing love. Go afresh to him with the 
prayer of the converted Sa.ul, and say to him: 
" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do . ? " And wait 
and watch for the answer. 

What would be the result if all professing Chris- 
tians did what they could? What a mass of 
wealth, of intellect, and of energy, remains yet 
unemployed for Christ, not only in the world, but 
also in the church. How many of his professed 
disciples are doing comparatively nothing ; how 
many more but a little; and how few can even 
approximate to the eulogy of Mary, and deserve 
the honor of having it said of them : " They did 
what they could." Were all to begin seriously to 
study, and diligently and prayerfully to employ 
their resources, for the glory of the Savior in the 
spread of his cause, what might not be expected 
to be the result. if all the power of faith were 
called out in believing, importunate prayer for the 
pouring forth of God's blessed Spirit ; if Chris- 
tians, under a deep sense of the utter inefficiency 
of all means, without divine grace, were to give 
themselves to prayer, and to pray as if it depended 
on their faith and fervor, whether the world should 
be converted ; if all rich men were to give all they 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 119 

could of their wealth, and all other persons were 
disposed to make sacrifices of luxury and comfort, 
that they might have the more to offer to Christ, 
if men of intellect, and energy, and influence, were 
but to consider these resources as belonging to 
Christ, instead of devoting them to the politics 
and parties of the world ; if all pious females 
were but to consider the solemn obligations they 
are under to Christ, not only for his love to their 
souls, but for the beneficial influence his religion 
has had upon the condition of their sex; if all the 
poor were to give of their little, for the spread of 
the gospel ; if, in short, it could be said of all the 
millions of the disciples of Jesus, each in his 
sphere, and according to his measure, " They did 
ichat they could" how far off then would be the 
answer of the church's prayers, in the universal 
conversion of the world to Christ ? Nothing is 
wanting but for the church to feel her obligations, 
to prepare herself for her great work by a fresh 
baptism of the Spirit, to consecrate her energies 
to the cause of her divine Lord, and to consider 
that her great business is the conversion of the 
world to God, and then the blessing would come. 
You, my dear friends, among the rest of Christ's 
chostn and redeemed people, are called upon to 
give, in the spirit of faith, and love, and prayer, of 
your substance to Christ. Sorrowful would be the 
heart of your pastor, if he saw you wholly taken 
up in getting wealth for yourselves, and while ei- 
ther hoarding it up to make your children rich, or 



120 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

spending it in the luxuries that constitute "the 
pride of life, 51 withholding it from the cause of 
Christ, or niggardly, grudgingly, and scantily 
yielding it to the urgency of importunate ap- 
peals. 

Consider, I entreat you, the different results of 
the property you spend upon yourselves, and that 
which you spend upon Christ : the former perish- 
es in the using, the latter acquires an imperisha- 
ble existence. What you lay out in the comforts 
and elegances of life, yea, and what you lay up 
unnecessarily, dies with you, when you die, and 
obtains no resurrection, for it has no principle of 
immortality. You will see it in no form in anoth- 
er world, for it contains no seed that bears fruit 
in eternity. It will pass away for ever, and noth- 
ing of it remain but the remembrance, and the 
regret, if, indeed, regret can enter heaven, that it 
had not been spent for God. But the wealth 
which, under the influence of pure motives, we 
devote to Christ, will never die ; this is immortal 
and incorruptible, not, indeed, in the form of prop- 
erty, for of what use would this be to us in heav- 
en ? but in what is infinitely more glorious and 
gratifying, in the form of those redeemed and bless- 
ed spirits of just men made perfect, whom it has 
been employed to convert to God. Yes, the men 
who give their property for the conversion of 
souls, may be said, in one sense, to transmute it 
into those living substances of holiness and bliss, 
which fill the upper world. This, in the best and 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 121 

fullest sense of the term, is "to lay up treasures 
in heaven;" it is to enrich the celestial city; to 
increase the glory of the New Jerusalem; and to 
place fresh gems in the mediatorial crown of the 
Redeemer. What a motive to liberality ! What 
an incentive to munificence ! How does it soften 
the labor of getting wealth, sweeten and sanctify 
the enjoyment of it, and compensate for any little 
sacrifice we may make in parting from it, to rec- 
ollect that by giving it to Christ, we impart to it a 
principle of immortality, and add it to the inherit- 
ance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away. Dull must be the heart which such a mo- 
tive cannot quicken ; grovelling the spirit which 
such a prospect does not elevate. Oh Christians ! 
how is it that we can cheat ourselves of such 
heavenly felicity and eternal honor, merely to have 
a little more comfort, luxury, or elegance here ? 
Why do we empoverish ourselves in another 
world, to enrich ourselves in this ? How is it, that 
the prospect of seeing our property for ever before 
our eyes, in the forms of glorified spirits; of lay- 
ing it up around the throne of the Eternal ; of ad- 
ding, by it, to the splendors of the holy of holies ; 
and multiplying the objects on which the eye of 
Christ shall rest with satisfaction, as the travail 
of his soul, does not induce us to part with more 
of it for such purposes, and make us willing to 
submit to every kind of sacrifice? How is it, I 
say ? Just because of the. weakness of our faith. 
We do not believe these facts, or we believe them 
11 



122 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

with a faith so feeble and so wavering, as scarcely 
to deserve the name. 

How much pleading, and remonstrance, and re- 
buke, might be spared; how much of the modem 
system of combating the spirit of worldliness in 
the disciples of Christ, and producing a spirit of 
liberality, which, after all, is sluggish, grudging, 
and reluctant, might be dispensed with ; how 
many of the present devices for getting money, 
some of them unworthy of the dignity and sanctity 
of the cause, and nearly all of them a reproach up- 
on its professed supporters, might be abandoned, 
if Christians understood and believed what they 
professed ; if they lived by faith ; if their faith reg- 
ulated their doings, as well as their sayings ; if it 
regulated their doings for others, as well as for 
themselves ; and if it also regulated their doings in 
the way of disposing of their property for the sal- 
vation of men's souls. The worm at the root of 
liberality, as well as of every other virtue, is unbe- 
lief; and there it may be detected eating out the 
strength, impairing the beauty, and preventing the 
fertility of the plant. 

But before I close this address, I come back 
again to the subject of love to Christ. I am not 
urging an abstract liberality, a mere habit of giving, 
apart from this holy and evangelical motive. I 
have directed you to the example of one whose 
fragrant offering was presented by a hand that was 
moved to the act, by a heart that burned with love, 
and glowed with gratitude to Christ ; and that ex- 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 123 

ample I am anxious you should imitate, not only 
in its act, but in its principle. I want you to make 
the love of Christ the mainspring of your obedience, 
as it is of all true obedience : and in order to this, 
the mainspring must be in your heart, and the love 
of Jesus beat strongly there. Ah, here, here is 
the defect of the great multitude of professors in 
the present day, the love of Christ does not beat 
strongly there ; the love of Christ does not constrain 
them. True, there is much activity and much lib- 
erality, and we rejoice in it, for God employs it for 
good ; but how much of this springs from love to 
Christ, and how much from the compulsion of ex- 
ample, the force of persuasion, the love of activity, 
and a spirit of individual and congregational vain- 
glory? Does this liberality flow forth silently, 
gush out spontaneously, welling up, like some abun- 
dant spring, by the secret and powerful law of na- 
ture, without the aid of mechanical means ; or is 
it not got up, in whatever quantity, with great 
labor and much pumping ? Changing the meta- 
phor, is this zeal kept in vigorous activity by the 
healthful nutriment of evangelical truth ; by the 
bread which cometh down from heaven; by eating 
the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God? 
Or is it not kept alive and active by the various 
stimulants, cordials, and elixirs, which modern 
ingenuity supplies ? 

Mart —Martha— Sarah, have you, like your 
devoted sister of Bethany, done what you could ? 
Take an inventory of the means which the Lord 



124 CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 

has put into your hands for honoring him, and then 
look over the list of your contributions. What 
proportion do your annual charities bear to the cost 
of your furniture, your wardrobe, your ornaments, 
your luxuries? Jesus did not withhold from you 
his very precious blood. What are you willing 
to do for him? What costly alabaster-box have 
you broken, will you break for him ? 

Oh God ! bestow upon my flock, and upon their 
minister, thy grace, that when we meet thee in 
judgment, we may hear this commendatory testi- 
mony from thy gracious lips : " They did what 
thev could." 



LIFE OF FAITH. 125 



No. VIII. 

LIFE OF FAITH. 

My Dear Friends : The subject on which I now 
address you, is of vital importance to your safety 
as sinners, and to your comfort as Christians; I 
mean the Life of Faith. It is a subject constant- 
ly recurring in your conversation and prayers, yet 
I fear too little understood, still less felt, and, in 
some cases, mischievously perverted. I shall be- 
gin by removing a gross and grievous misconcep- 
tion, which some have taken up on this moment- 
ous topic. To live and walk by faith means, with 
such persons, nothing more than living in an ha- 
bitual persuasion that they are Christians. This 
view rests, of course, upon the notion, that faith 
is a confidence of their own personal interest in 
Christ. It is common, therefore, for them to 
speak of a life of faith, as opposed to a life of 
frames and feelings. Those times in which we 
have the most spiritual discernment of God's glo- 
ry, sensible communion with him, and feel our 
love most ardently drawn out to him, are thought 
by them to have the least exercise of faith. " There 
is no need," say they, " for faith then ; at such 
times we live by sense : but that when all our 
graces seem dead, and we can see no evidence 
11* 



126 LIFE OF FAITH. 

whence to draw the favorable conclusion, that we 
are the children of God, then is the time to walk 
by faith." Their meaning is, " then is the time 
to believe all is well, and so rest easy, whether we 
have the evidence that it is so or not." It is not 
unfrequently, that the language of the prophet is 
brought forward to support this false view of the 
subject: "Who is among you that feareth the 
Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that 
walketh in darkness, and hath no light ? Let him 
trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his 
God." Isaiah 1. 10. The darkness here, however, 
does not mean tha v t which is spiritual, or a want 
of discernment of our being a child of God, but 
providential, or a want of external prosperity, in 
which season it is our duty, of course, to trust in 
God. 

There cannot be a more pernicious or unscrip- 
tural notion; one that is more dangerous to the 
individual who entertains it, nor more discredit- 
able to religion, than to resolve the life of faith 
into a going forward with the persuasion that we 
are justified in the sight of God, and advancing to 
glory, notwithstanding the coldness and carnality 
of our hearts, and the absence of all right frames 
and feelings toward God and eternal things. That 
some persons live upon frames and feelings, and 
put this in place of the life of faith is very true. 
If, instead of keeping the eye of the mind fixed on 
Christ, it be ever turned inward upon the mind it- 
self, pleased with beholding some supposed excel- 



LIFE OF FAITH. 127 

lencies there ; if our consolation is derived from the 
good we see in ourselves, rather than from the 
fulness there is in the Savior; if we imagine that 
the purposes and dispositions of the divine mind 
toward us, are as variable as our own emotions ; 
or if, while we profess to place all our dependance 
on Christ, our religious peace and consolation are 
regulated more by the amount of actual emotion, 
than by our perception of the work of the Redeem- 
er, this is living upon frames and feelings, and is 
of course opposed to the life of faith. 

There are two passages of the apostle in refer- 
ence to the subject now before us, which deserve 
attention; the first is this : "lam crucified with 
Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me : and the life that I now live in the 
Hesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." GaL ii. 20. 
The other is this : " We walk by faith, not by 
sight." 2 Cor. v. 7. Between the life of faith, 
and the walk of faith, there is no other aifference 
than what lies between a principle and its opera- 
tions. This is pointed out in another passage, 
where the apostle says : " If we live in the spirit let 
us also walk in the spirit." Gal. v. 25. The life 
of faith refers to the principle ; the walk, to its acts 
and exercises. Both taken together mean, our be- 
ing habitually influenced in the state of our minds 
and conduct, not by visible but invisible objects ; 
the objects ivhich are revealed in the word of God ; 
and of the nature and reality of ivhich we have no 



128 LIFE OF FAITH. 

evidence hut this divine testimony. Faith is a cor- 
dial and practical belief of this testimony, and to 
live and walk by it, must of course mean our being 
habitually influenced by those objects which that 
testimony reveals. It is opposed to corporeal sight, 
to the discoveries of mere reason, and to the ulti- 
mate vision of Christ in glory. 

The life of faith may be considered in reference 
to the various objects which the Scripture reveals. 

1. To God. "Without faith it is impossible to 
please God. He that cometh to God, must believe 
that he is, and that he is the rewarder of all them 
that diligently seek him.'" Heb. xi. 6. It is said 
of Moses: " He endured as seeing him that is invis- 
ible." This is the life and walk of faith with re- 
spect to God : a realizing sense of his invisible 
presence: such a persuasion, derived from the word 
of God, of his existence, and of his natural and 
moral perfections, as leads us to all that conduct 
which he requires. Perhaps this acting of faith 
toward God, could not be more appropriately de- 
scribed, than by the word used in reference to 
Enoch, and Noah, where it is said they " walked 
with God." Gen. v. 24 ; vi. 9. The expression is 
striking, and signifies such an habitual sense of the 
presence of God, and such a reference to him as a 
man has of the friend who is walking at his side. 
This then is the life of faith, to believe that we 
-are ever surrounded by an all-seeing, holy, and 
merciful God, and to conduct ourselves toward 
Iiim accordingly. 



LIFE OF FAITH. 129 

2. See it in reference to Christ. " I live by the 
faith of the son of God," said the apostle. Christ 
is the great object of justifying saving faith. Look 
unto me, believe in me, come to me, is the reitera- 
ted, constant invitation and command of Christ as 
speaking to us in the Gospel. His person, as God- 
man, Mediator ; his offices, as Prophet, Priest, and 
King ; his perfect atonement, justifying righteous- 
ness, and prevailing intercession ; his spotless ex- 
ample, holy commands, and gracious promises; 
his government and kingdom, as revealed in the 
New Testament, are the glorious objects of our 
contemplation and belief. To live and walk by 
faith, is to come daily to Jesus in the exercise of 
fresh dependance, fresh expectations, and fresh de- 
votedness ; it is still to renounce all and everything 
but Christ as the basis of our hope; it is to see 
more of his glory and grace continually, and to re- 
joice with more joy in his unsearchable riches, and 
inexhaustible fulness ; it is to confess that as time 
rolls on, and eternity advances, he is all our righ- 
teousness and strength ; it is to feel that as knowl- 
edge increases, and grace grows, still we have 
nothing but Christ, as a ground of confidence; it is 
in all our conflicts, sins, fears, weaknesses, and 
woes, to repair afresh to him, and just as we came 
at first, with a full persuasion that we are welcome, 
and thus ever to derive strength and courage from 
him ; — this is a life of faith in Christ — to be as- 
sured and to feel that as the branch has no life 
apart from the vine, nor the members from the 



130 LIFE OF FAITH. 

head, so we have no spiritual life, but as we abide 
in him. 

3. See it in reference to Providential Dispen- 
sations. Christ has told us once for all, that " all 
power in heaven and earth is in his hands." Mat- 
thew xxviii. 18. The apostle has repeated the 
declaration : " He is head over all things to his 
church." Ephes. i. 22. So minute is the superin- 
tendence of his care over his people, that " the 
very hairs of their head are all numbered." Again 
and again we are assured, that " they that fear the 
Lord shall not want any good thing." Psalm xxxiv. 
xxxvii. That " he who spared not his own Son, 
but freely delivered him up for us all, shall with 
him also freely give us all things." Bom. viii. 32. 
" That all things shall work together for good to 
them that love God, and who are the called ac- 
cording to his purpose." Rom. viii. 28. " That 
our light afflictions which are but for a moment, 
work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." 2 Cor. iv. 17. These are the 
true and comfortable words of Holy Scripture, and 
the life of faith consists in believing they are true, 
and in applying them to all the varying events and 
occurrences and circumstances of our own individual 
and humble history. Faith believes that in what- 
ever straits and difficulties we may be found God 
will never abandon us. It says amid seeming des- 
titution, " God is my shepherd, I shall not want." 
It replies when all things appear against us, " it 
is well." It believes that love is at the bottom of 



LIFE OF FAITH. 131 

all dispensations, however confounding to our wis- 
dom, or disappointing to our hopes. It hushes the 
murmur, wipes the tear, and suppresses the com- 
plaint, by the persuasion that all will end well. It 
sings, as did good Habakkuk: " Although the fig- 
tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the 
vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields 
shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from 
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; 
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God 
of my salvation." Hab. iii. 17, 18. 

4. See the life of faith in reference to the second 
coming of Christ. " Ye turned to God from dumb 
idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait 
for his son from heaven." 1 Thess. i. 9, 10. Such 
was the apostle's description of the habitual frame 
of the mind of believers in his day. A similar 
representation we find in another place : " Looking 
for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing 
of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ." 
Titus ii. 13. As if it were the one great object 
of their expectation, to wait for the second advent 
of the Savior. If the Millenarians run into one 
extreme in the prominence they give to this great 
event in their meditations and discourses, so as to 
make it predominate even over the first coming of 
Christ, the great bulk of professing Christians run 
into the opposite extreme of leaving it out too 
much. Oh, what are all the future events of time ; 
what are the changes that are to take place in 
the history of our country, or the world, compared 



132 LIFE OF FAITH. 

with the advent of Christ, when he shall come a 
second time without a sin-offering unto salvation? 
What should be so interesting to our hopes as 
" the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from 
heaven, with his mighty angels, when he shall 
come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in 
all them that believe." 2 Thess. i. 7-10. Illus- 
trious day ! Glorious scene ! Here is the life of 
faith, in contemplating these, and giving rise to 
the most lively and animated hopes ; and setting 
the Christian in the attitude of expectation, and 
the work of preparation. 

5. Contemplate the life of faith in reference to 

ETERNITY, and THE GLORY OF HEAVEN. How COn- 

cisely, yet how beautifully is this expressed by the 
apostle : u We look not at the things which are 
seen, but at the things which are not seen; for 
the things which are seen are temporal, but the 
things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor. iv. 
18. Oh, what simplicity, and yet what sublimity 
of language ! It was as if he had said : "Eterni- 
ty is so clearly revealed to us in all its wonders 
and glories, and is so vast and magnificent a scene, 
and withal so near, that we scarcely seem to see 
the things of time, and have no inclination to turn 
away from the boundless prospect of immortality,- 
to look after them : and in all our estimates, our 
feelings, and our pursuits, we are guided and con- 
trolled by a regard to things eternal." This is the 
acting of faith, to believe in glory, honor, and im- 
mortality; and the life of faith is to let eternity 



LIFE OF FAITH. 133 

give the stamp and form of our character. It is 
to treat heaven as a reality, and to let it mould our 
very spirit. If this divine principle be in our souls, 
we shall enter into the apostle's beautiful language 
and say : " We know that if our earthly house of 
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a build- 
ing of God, a house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens: for we that are in this tabernacle 
do groan, being burdened : not for that we would 
be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality 
might be swallowed up of life. Therefore we are 
always confident, knowing that while we are at 
home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 
For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Cor. 
v. 1-7. 

This, my dear friends, is the new, and spiritual, 
and heavenly life you are called by your pro- 
fession to lead: this is in fact the Christian life. 
It is to this the apostle refers when he says: "Ye 
are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God ; 
and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then shall ye also appear with him in glory." 
Col. iii. 3, 4. How different to all this is the way 
of the multitude, " who are walking according to 
the course of this world." — "They mind earthly 
things." Their whole frame and temper of mind 
is expressed in the inquiry: " Who will show us 
any good?" Sense is their region, and they never 
rise out of it. Their only converse is with the 
visible world. Beyond this they have no objects, 
either of hope or fear; no springs of happiness; 
12 



134 LIFE OF FAITH. 

no sources of interest. And even among those 
who make a profession of religion, how little is 
this subject understood and felt. How low is this 
heavenly life, how feeble is the pulse of faith. 
Do not the great bulk of those who call them- 
selves Christians appear to be living far too 
much by sense ? Not indeed that they are im- 
mersed in vice or gayety ; but how deeply sunk 
in worldly care, how taken up with worldly 
comforts ! No matter how pure, and how inno- 
cent the things may be in themselves, if they 
hide scriptural objects from the eye of faith, they 
are unlawful, as to their influence, when they do 
this. Our profession implies a disposition, and a 
habit of seeking our highest objects of interest 
and delight in things unseen and eternal; a daily 
converse of the soul with God and Christ; with 
heaven and eternity. He that is thus walking 
will not allow himself to be long out of sight of 
the cross ; will not wander far from God in quest 
of happiness. He will not shut himself up amid 
terrestrial scenes, however rational or innocent. He 
has a new principle in his nature, beside sense'and 
reason, for he has faith ; and this is a restless, 
powerful, and craving one, which aspires after 
something higher, and better, and more enduring, 
than anything he can see, or touch, or taste. He 
is the subject of wants and woes, which only faith 
can relieve and mitigate. Neither sense nor reason 
can assist him to throw off his load of guilt, or 
give satisfaction to desires which the world is too 



LIFE OF FAITH. 135 

poor to gratify. Here, therefore, on this globe, 
he finds himself a prisoner, sighing for escape from 
the dark and limited region which he inhabits : 
and it is only faith that can open for him the 
doors, and make way for his excursion into the 
invisible realities of eternity. 

Alas ! how small are our attainments in this 
divine life, how much are we occupied and engross- 
ed by things of time and sense. It is well worth 
while to ask, what you know of this ? You are 
all living by faith or sight; either upon things 
heavenly, or things earthly. On what is you?' soul 
living ? What is it that supplies your comfort ? 
Where does your spirit go daily to quench her 
thirst after happiness ; to the breaking cisterns of 
created good, or to the fountains of living waters ? 
Sooner or later, the fullest store of the joys of sense 
will be exhausted. " All the dear delights of 
earth are but the brood of time, a brood that will 
soon take to themselves wings, and, with him that 
that cherished them, fly away. Oh my friends, 
it is but too common for many to suppose that 
those who live by faith in the enjoyments of the 
world to come, live upon mere imaginations. But 
are they not mistaken? It is their enjoyments, 
and not those of believers that are imaginary. 
Pleasures, profits, honors, what are they? The 
whole form only a kind of ideal world, a sort of 
splendid show, like that in a dream, which when 
you awake, all is gone. To grasp it, is to grasp 
a shadow ; and to feed upon it, is to feed upon the 



136 LIFE OF FAITK. 

wind." Christ and his salvation — heaven and 
eternity — are the only substantial realities ; and 
these are the objects for which faith lives, and 
toward which it is perpetually walking. 

Receive then, dear friends, the word of exhort- 
ation, and seek to possess more and more of this 
divine life. Understand clearly the nature and 
operation of that great principle, which is the root 
of all true piety. It is not only as sinners, and for 
the purpose of justification, that you need faith, 
but as Christians also for sanctification, consolation, 
and perseverance. Every act of the spiritual life 
is an act of faith ; every step in the spiritual walk 
is a step of faith. The Christian's course is not one 
of doing merely, but of believing. His prayers are 
the breathings of faith ; his works are the actings 
of faith ; his penitence is the tear of faith : his joy 
is the smile of faith ; his hopes are the anticipations 
of faith ; his fears are the tremblings of faith ; his 
strength is the confidence of faith ; his submission 
is the acquiescence of faith. It is the eye that 
looks at Christ; the foot that moves to him; the 
hand that receives him; the mouth that feeds up- 
on him. It is not only by the activity of obedi- 
ence, but by the silent and passive power of depend- 
ance, that the Christian is strong and victorious. 
Here is the reason why so many professors are so 
worldly and so weak ; why they make such little 
progress, and such -small attainments; some of 
them are so much under the dominion of sense, 
are so almost wholly given up to a life of sight, 



LIFE OF FAITH. 137 

that they have neither time nor inclination to look 
at the things that are unseen and eternal : while 
others, though far more solicitous and laborious 
about spiritual things, fix their attention, and ex- 
haust their energies, upon toilsome self-sustained 
struggles, to the neglect of faith. There is in them 
no habitual looking to Christ, no abiding in him, 
no vivid consciousness that all their springs are 
in him, and that it is from his fulness they are to 
receive and grace for grace. Theirs is a life of 
working, but not of believing; they are lamentably 
ignorant of the astonishing mightiness, yea, the 
all-mightiness, there is in the simple act of believ- 
ing ; for what is this, but to be strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of his might ? 

Do not forget that it is not possible to carry on 
the growth of the Christian life unto the measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ, apart from 
this. " It is only when that life is firmly-rooted 
and grounded in faith, that the straight stem of 
righteousness will rise up, and branch out intc the 
manifold ramifications of duty, and that it will be 
crowned with the brightness and sweetness of the 
amaranthine blossoms of love. When moral recti- 
tude is disjoined from faith, there is no trust in it. 
It may stiffen into pharisaical formality, or ossify 
into stoical severity ; or it may be withered by the 
blights and cankerworm of expediency ; or it may 
tumble into the stye of Epicureanism and rot there. 
When love is disjoined from faith there is no trust 
in it. Caprice may throw it to the winds ; chance 
12* 



138 LIFE OF FAITH. 

may nip it in the bud; pride may blast it; vanity 
may eat away its core ; prosperity may parch it ; 
distress may freeze it : lust may taint and poison 
it ; the slights and neglects which it must needs 
experience at times, in a world of frailty and mu- 
tability, will assuredly sour and embitter it. In- 
deed, according to the true idea of Christian love, 
and of righteousness, neither the one nor the other 
*can exist at all, except as springing out of faith. 
"Whereas, when faith is genuine and strong, in 
proportion to its genuineness and strength, will it 
infallibly produce righteousness and love; a righ- 
teousness and love which, having a living seed 
within them, will be abiding." A living faith, 
and living works must, and do, always go togeth- 
er : they cannot live but in union with each other; 
cut them asunder, and they both die. To think 
of growing in grace, increasing in love, and abound- 
ing in the fruits of righteousness, which are by 
Jesus Christ unto the glory of God, in any other 
way than by faith, and strong faith too, is as irra- 
tional as to cut off the branch from the vine, and 
to expect it, in that state, to bear the rich, full 
clusters of the parent- tree. 

It is by " the Life of Faith," you will bring glory 
to God. Confidence in the kindness, veracity, and 
ability of a fellow-creature, affords a pleasure to 
his own mind, and does him honor before others. 
We please God, and magnify him before the world, 
when we confide in him. For this purpose we are 
placed where we are, and as we are, where we can 



LIFE OF FAITH. 139 

see nothing, hear nothing, touch nothing, but must 
believe everything : and all this that we might 
glorify him as a God that is faithful and cannot lie. 
We see not God, nor Christ, nor heaven, and know 
nothing about them, but by the testimony of Scrip- 
ture. How then is God honored, when upon the 
credit of his simple word alone, we prefer the in- 
visible realities of eternity, to the visible things 
of time ; and amid all that is dazzling to sense, 
gratifying to appetite, and dear to passion, spend 
a life of self-denial, mortification, and separation 
from the world ; and in some instances die the 
martyr's death. 

Prove youselves, then, the children of faithful 
Abraham, and stagger not at the promises of God, 
through unbelief; but be strong in faiih % giving 
glory to God. Believer, if you are brought into 
dark and difficult circumstances, instead of allow- 
ing yourself to think you may stand excused for 
the indulgence of murmuring and unbelief, consider 
it rather as an opportunity and a call for the exer- 
cise of faith, and for thus glorifying God. The 
thicker the darkness through which he calls you 
to pass, and the more entirely destitute you are 
of all help from every other quarter, the greater 
is the opportunity for honoring him by trusting 
him with all your concerns. 

How blessed to its possessor is the life of faith, 
" Believing in Christ, we rejoice with joy unspeak- 
able and full of glory." — " Because thou hast seen 
me," said Christ to Thomas, " thou hast believed ; 



140 LIFE OF FAITH. 

blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have 
believed." John xx. How sweetly does confidence 
even in an earthly friend, relieve the mind from 
distressing fears and apprehensions ; and this relief 
is in exact proportion to the ability and willingness 
of this friend to assist us, and the benefits we ex- 
pect from his generosity. What then must be the 
relief afforded to the agitated mind of the Christian, 
by confidence in God, reliance on Christ, and the 
hope of glory. " Great and wonderful is the con- 
solation such a life affords. In all the vicissitudes 
of life and horrors of death, nothing can cheer and 
fortify the mind like this. By faith in Christ, and 
the unseen world, we can endure injuries without 
revenge, afflictions without fainting, and losses 
without despair. Let the nations of the earth 
clash like potsherds, one against another; yea, let 
nature herself approach toward her final dissolu- 
tion; let her groan as being ready to expire, and 
sink into her primitive nothing : still the believer 
lives ! His all is not on board that vessel ! His 
chief inheritance lies in another soil." 

" His hand the good man fastens on the skies, 
And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl." 

How obvious is this to the most superficial 
thinker! Faith, when the report believed is a 
joyful one, must be productive of delight. Who 
can believe glad tidings and not be made glad ? 
Hence the reasonableness of those exhortations 



LIFE OF FAITH. 141 

which call upon us to rejoice in the Lord. There 
is more real happiness in the believer's mind, when 
in the very midst of poverty and trouble he exercises 
a lively confidence in God, than the richest world- 
ling on earth enjoys, when surrounded by all his 
untold wealth, and incalculable possessions. To 
feel our own poverty, emptiness, nothingness, and 
yet at the same time to feel in all the confidence 
of faith, our fulness in Christ and our title to an 
inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fa- 
deth not away, is one of the most felicitous states 
of mind we can attain to in this world, uniting as it 
does, the deepest humility with the most exalted 
and triumphant anticipations. 

The life of faith will not last always, but will 
give way to a life of eternal vision. We are walk- 
ing by faith to see Jesus as he is, and to be like 
him. " Thy word," said the Psalmist, " is alight 
unto my feet, a lamp unto my path :" and faith is 
the hand that holds it, as we pass through 
the darkness of this our earthly sojourn, and the 
deeper shadows of the grave : but when our spirits 
emerge into the regions of glory and the realms of 
immortality, we shall need the lamp no longer, for 
u there is no night there." Oh, what a moment will 
that be when the lamp of faith will be suddenly 
extinguished, not amid the darkness of eternal 
night, but amid the splendors of everlasting day 
and the prospects of the heavenly world, and its 
tiny spark shall be lost amid the blaze of glory 
pouring from the throne of God! How will the 



142 LIFE OF FAITH. 

soul endure the scene which shall then burst upon 
her view? 

Be this then your prayer, my dear friends, your 
sincere and earnest prayer: "Lord, increase our 
faith." Be willing to have the world displaced 
from your soul, to make room for the objects of 
faith; and be ever ready to come from the dazzling 
glare of earthly scenes, to feel the steady illumina- 
tion, and dwell in the calm and holy light that 
shines from heaven on your path. Study as well 
as read the Scriptures, and meditate much upon 
their contents. Frequent and devout converse 
with the objects of faith, is the best way to have 
it increased. Watch diligently against the influ- 
ence of those objects which have a fatal tendency 
to eclipse its light, to obstruct its operation, and 
enfeeble its life ; namely, sensual pleasure ; eager 
pursuit of the world; and a too intimate converse 
with those who mind earthly things. 



INFLUENCE OF OLDER CHRISTIANS. 143 

No. IX. 

INFLUENCE OF OLDER CHRISTIANS. 

My Dear Friends: A subject of considerable 
interest and importance has often occurred to me, 
when meditating on the state of the Christian 
Church, and that is, the influence which the conduct 
of its senior members has over those ivho have late- 
ly commenced the divine life. It is obvious from 
all the principles of our nature, that this must be 
considerable, either for good or for evil ; and that 
if it do not encourage and strengthen them in the 
way, it must enfeeble and dishearten them. It is 
so fearful a thing to cast stumbling-blocks in the 
path of a Christian brother, and to disturb his 
peace, much more to endanger his soul, that it be- 
comes us all to take heed to our steps, both for his 
sake and our own. 

You must be aware that those who are but 
lately converted to God, and have just assumed 
the Christian profession, look with attention and 
deference to others of long-standing in the church, 
and are apt to make them their patterns and 
standards. In the army, the veteran soldiers have 
great influence in training the young recruits, in 
forming their character, and fitting them for ser- 
vice : in a manufactory, the habits of the workmen 



144 INFLUENCE OF 

have a considerable share in guiding those of the* 
apprentices ; and in a family, the younger children 
imitate the older ones. Thus it is in the church 
of God, the younger look up to those who are more 
advanced in age, or in experience. It is very true 
that they have a perfect standard in the word of 
God, which they ought to consult, and to which 
they ought to seek for grace to conform themselves,, 
without considering what other and older believers 
do. Instead, however, of studying the nature, and 
claims, and extent of vital Christianity in its own 
inspired records, and thus imitating the divine ori- 
ginal, they are but too apt to look at it as it is to be 
seen in their fellow-professors, and thus by copy- 
ing jfrom a copy, and that but an imperfect one too, 
they go on multiplying the sadly defective exhibi- 
tions of practical religion, with which the church 
always abounds. It is not, however, till they 
have experienced considerable surprise by their 
first acquaintance with these imperfect patterns, 
that they are brought to imitate them. 

"It has not, I believe, unfrequently occurred 
that young converts in the ardor of their first love, 
and while much unacquainted as yet, with what 
is called the religious world, have looked upon 
the church of Christ, as a sacred enclosure, within 
which dwelt scarcely any other than a kind of 
heavenly inhabitants, as a sort of vestibule to the 
temple above, where as these blessed spirits were 
putting off their earthly affections, and preparing 
to enter into the presence of their divine Redeemer, 



OLDER CHRISTIANS. 145 

they could think or speak of little else than the 
glory that awaited them ; and by whom every ad- 
dition to their number would be hailed with de- 
light, and welcomed as an accession to the fervor 
of their piety. In such society, these novices ex- 
pected soon to attain to the full maturity of the 
Christian character, and ripen into the greatest 
perfection attainable on earth. They anticipated 
the sweetest and holiest intercourse, an almost 
unearthly spirituality, and an uninterrupted strain 
of religious conversation in the communion of 
saints — but alas ! what a woful disappointment 
did the reality produce ; in the sacred enclosure 
they found worldly-minded professors, almost as 
intent upon things seen- and temporal, as any they 
had left without the gates; in the vestibule of 
heaven, they beheld men and women covered with 
the dust, disordered with the anxieties, and given 
up to the enjoyment of earth. They saw little 
but the world in conduct, and heard little else in 
conversation. A cold chill fell upon their hearts, 
which seemed at once, like a frosty atmosphere 
acting upon a newly-exposed plant, to check the 
ardor of their religious affections ; and even they, 
lately so fervent, soon sunk and settled down into 
the lukewarmness of those among whom they had 
come to dwell. It is true they expected too much ; 
they had formed a standard for the church militant, 
too nearly approaching that of the church trium- 
phant ; but still, even persons with a more correct 
knowledge of professing Christians, and with more 
13 



146 INFLUENCE OF 

sober expectations of what was to be derived from 
them, have upon coming among them, experienced 
much less of the benefits of fellowship than they 
expected. This should not be. ■ Happily it is not 
always thus. In our churches are to be found 
some, who by their knowledge, piety, and experi- 
ence, are nursing fathers and mothers of the young 
Christian, and who, by the blessing of God, breathe 
into him their own spirit." 

In this way it is that the church of God is kept 
down in its spiritual attainments, and does not 
make that advance to the higher degrees of 
knowledge, faith, and holiness, which might be 
expected, and which is so much to be desired. I 
have no need to prove that the church is not dis- 
tinguished in our day by the eminence of its spirit- 
uality and heavenly-mindedness. It has much 
zeal, activity, and liberality, and in these things 
we cordially rejoice, but they are most fearfully 
mixed up with a prevailing worldliness in many 
of its aspects and operations ; and it may be feared 
that the dazzling splendor of missionary move- 
ments, and the bustling scenes of zealous labor, 
have too much drawn away Christians from deep 
communion with their own hearts, and with the 
spirit of God. What a flexible and accommodating 
morality has infected our business transactions ! 
What an acrimonious and uncharitable spirit has 
soured the temper of the various denominations 
toward each other ! What a languid faith, and 
feeble fluttering hope, characterize the frame of the 



OLDER CHRISTIANS. 147 

feulk of professors ! As if the missionary ardor 
might be accepted as a compromise for all defici- 
encies in the more laborious, painful, and self- 
denying exertions of the Christian life. External 
action and doing, has with many, become a substi- 
tute, for heart- watchfulness, the subduing of sin, 
and holy communion with the spirit. And to 
whom are these deficiencies to be attributed but to 
the older professors of religion ? Were they gen- 
erally as eminent as they should be ; were they 
patterns of that elevated, consistent, experimental 
religion, which might justly be looked for from 
the growth of twenty, thirty, or forty years ; were 
they free from the inconsistencies, which mar the 
beauty, and diminish the power of the Christian 
profession ; were they shining as lights in the 
world, reflecting the beauties of holiness, breathing 
the spirit of devotion, and abounding in the fruits 
of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto 
the glory of God; then the younger brethren and 
sisters, as they were born into the family of God, 
would be likely to partake of their spirit, to follow 
their conduct, and imitate their character; and a 
succession of eminent and devoted professors would 
be maintained. 

I do not mean to say, or to insinuate, that the 
senior members of the church under my care are 
more deficient than those of other churches. 
Certainly not. There are not a few of you who 
are " my joy and hope," and will be, I trust, " my 
crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord, at 



148 INFLUENCE OF 

his coming." I write for others who are not the 
subjects of my pastoral oversight, as well as for 
you, and am laying down general principles, for 
universal application. 

May I then, my dear friends, solicit your serious 
and prayerful attention to the subject of this Ad- 
dress ; you I refer to, who have, in age and stand- 
ing, already attained to the character of fathers 
and mothers in Israel, or who are advancing to it. 
Do not dismiss the matter as of no importance, 
nor let your modesty or your indifference lead you 
to imagine that your influence is less than I have 
stated, and that therefore the subject is not worth 
your consideration. Do not refuse to examine, 
and well weigh it. You are doing good or harm, 
to younger Christians. They will consider your 
conduct, whether you wish it or no. Their eyes 
are open to what you do, and their ears to what 
you say, when you little think of it. You cannot 
retire from observation, nor dwell in seclusion so 
deep as to elude all scrutiny. You must be influ- 
ential. You ought not to wish, or attempt to be 
negative. You are a candle lighted, to be put, not 
under a bushel, but in a candlestick, to give light 
to all that are in the house. Younger professors 
are continually coming around you, both in the 
transactions of business, and in the intercourse of 
friendship, and are imbibing an influence from you, 
whether you intentionally exert it or not. Their 
character is forming imperceptibly by you, uncon- 
sciously to themselves, under the power of your 



OLDEPw CHRISTIANS. 149 

example. There is no need of your saying, " Act 
as I do;" nor of their replying, "I will." The 
influence goes on without such formalities. Their 
tone of piety rises or falls to the key-note you 
strike : their zeal cools or' grows warm by yours : 
moral principles fasten or loosen their roots in their 
hearts, as yours appear to be fixed or fluctuating. 
I am aware that this influence has limitations, 
and that many new converts to God, set out on the 
life and walk of faith, with such a decision of 
character, such a strong faith, and such an ardent 
love, as to resist the example, and condemn the 
worldly-mindedness of many of those who have 
been long in the way of godliness. They retain 
their spirituality and devotional feeling amid 
much that is calculated to repress them : but to 
do so, they find it necessary to retire from the 
intimacy of many who had been in Christ long 
before them. 

If you are not aware of the importance of this 
subject, the pastors of the churches are. They 
know, and some of them bitterly lament, the 
influence of their elder members. They see amid 
all their zeal and solicitude to raise the tone of 
piety in their churches, a counteracting power 
exerted by many who ought to be foremost in 
lending their help to forward so desirable an object. 
I know both clergymen of the Church of England, 
as well as Dissenting Ministers, to whom this 
must be a sore grievance. The pastors will labor 
to a considerable extent in vain, in endeavoring 
13* 



150 INFLUENCE OF 

publicly to promote the spirituality of their flocks, 
if the more influential members of the community 
do not sustain their efforts in private. 

Be careful, then, not to throw stumbling-blocks 
in a brother's way, even in little things. There 
are two ways in which you may do this : First, 
by doing what is positively wrongs or of doubtful 
propriety. I do not now allude to immoralities 
and vice. Such things, I am happy to say, rarely, 
very rarely, occur among us, but I refer to the 
lesser violations of Christian propriety; such for 
instance, as the indulgence of bad tempers; offences 
against love, gratitude, and humility ; the practice 
of those dishonorable artifices which are so com- 
mon in the modern system of trade ; conformity to 
the world in spirit, entertainments, dress, and 
amusements ; and covetousness, hard-heartedness, 
and indifference to the cause of religion in the 
world. Fathers and mothers in Israel, I beseech 
you, for the sake of the " young men," and the 
" little children," that you abstain from such, 
things. Do not give the sanction of your example, 
the aid of your influence, to the spread of a diseas- 
ed religious profession, in which such leprous spots 
as these are continually breaking out. 

And should there happen to be anything of 
doubtful propriety, a mere matter of taste and 
gratification ; a matter about which the Christian 
world are somewhat divided; a matter condemned 
by the more spiritual part of the church; a matter 
seemingly, though not in reality, at best half way 



OLDER CHRISTIANS. 151 

between good and evil, resting on the very line 
of demarcation between right and wrong, partly 
on one territory and partly on the other; in such 
a case, the better instructed and more experienced 
members, should abstain from these appearances 
of evil. Should not they be the first to set the 
example, and to give out a pattern of self-denial ? 
Should not they be the leaders of the cross-bearing 
company? Should not their younger brethren 
and sisters see how far advanced they are in the 
virtues of forbearance, temperance, and separation 
from the world ? Should not they lend their aid 
in training the new converts to that hardy, endu- 
ring, self-denying religion, which is implied in the 
Christian profession ? Observe the example of the 
apostle Paul. Speaking of eating meats offered 
to idols, he says : " Take heed lest by any means 
this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling-block to 
them that are weak. And through thy knowledge 
shall thy weak brother perish, for whom Christ 
died ? But when ye sin so against the brethren, 
and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against 
Christ. "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to 
offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, 
lest I make my brother to offend." 1 Cor. viii. 
The general sentiment contained in this beautiful 
and generous passage, is an affectionate solicitude 
on the part of older, and better instructed, and 
stronger professors, not to enjoy any gratification, 
or to do anything, which should have the tendency 
to pervert the principles, mislead the conscience, 



152 INFLUENCE OF 

perplex the reasonings, or grieve the minds of 
such as are weaker or younger in the faith. What 
arguments and motives does the passage contain ! 
By misleading such persons we sin against the 
brethren, wound weak consciences, endanger im- 
mortal souls, sin against Christ ! Aged professors 
read this, ponder it; tremble; and decide. 

It is also to be remembered that it is not merely 
the whole course of a Christian's conduct that has 
this influence, but perhaps some one single trans- 
action, different from the one I have just supposed, 
which is regarded as a sort of test-act by younger 
converts. There is some one decision which he is 
to make, some single instance which he is to ex- 
hibit, some isolated position which he is to occupy, 
upon the manner of conducting himself in which, 
many will form an opinion, not simply of his 
character, but of the rule which they are to pre- 
scribe to themselves. His conduct in that one 
transaction, will perhaps, send out an extensive 
and permanent influence over the whole character 
of many. If he has grace to act well in that 
instance, they will be led at once, in imitation of 
his example, to adopt a high standard, a lofty model 
of Christian profession; they will depart with a 
high notion of what is required in a follower of 
Christ, and with a fixed and determined purpose 
to follow whatsoever things are lovely and of good 
report. Whereas, if unhappily he fail, and exhibit 
a flexibility of principle, and a spirit of compromise, 
they, from that hour, obtain in his conduct, an apol- 



OLDER CHRISTIANS. 153 

ogy to others, and a quietus to their conscience, 
for an unspiritual, worldly-minded, and inconsist- 
ent profession. 

Secondly. You may put stumbling-blocks in 
the way of younger Christians, not only by doing 
what is wrong, but by not doing what is right; 
by a deficiency for instance, in seriousness, devout- 
ness, diligence, and spirituality. There is a radi- 
cal defect in the religion of many professors, not in 
morality, but in spirituality. They do not appear 
in earnest. Their character and conduct do not 
bear and exhibit with sufficient distinctness, the 
impress of the cross; the image of God; the seal 
of the spirit; the stamp of eternity; the likeness 
of heaven. A Christian is, or should be, a man 
who takes not only the form, but the hue of his 
character from the Bible; and that should be a 
hue of heavenly color. Now where this to a con- 
siderable extent is wanting in older professors, its 
influence on younger ones must be sad indeed. If 
they hear little of devout conversation from your 
lips, they cannot of course attach any great value 
to spirituality of mind. If they see you habitually 
absent from the prayer-meetings, they cannot 
entertain any ideas of the importance of social 
prayer. If they do not see you at the week-day 
sermon, they are not likely to feel it of any conse- 
quence to take an hour from business or pleasure, 
to be there themselves. If they hear you mur- 
muring and discontented, impatient and rebellious; 
or even if they see you gloomy, cheerless, and 



154 INFLUENCE OF 

disconsolate in trouble and sickness, how it must 
tend to diminish their sense of the power and 
value of religion, and to discourage them in the 
prospect of affliction, which may be coming upon 
them. my beloved friends, do consider these 
things : and the Lord give you understanding. 

These remarks apply, of course, with peculiar 
force to such of you as are parents, and are masters 
and mistresses, and who have fellow-members in 
your own household, among your children and ser- 
vants. What patterns of godliness should such 
young Christians expect to see in us ! And what 
expectations of this kind have they not a right to 
entertain ? Have we any reason to be astonished, or 
to complain of their low degrees of piety, if ours 
are not high? Let me remind you that it is not 
the unconverted branches of our families, that 
should excite our solicitude, and engage our care, 
but the professedly converted. While we should 
be anxious to bring the former under the influence 
of religion, we should also be no less so, to carry 
on the others to higher degrees of religion. Let us 
ask if our conduct at home is of such a nature, as 
is calculated to make the piety of home flourish 
around us. Is there that consistency, that spirit- 
uality, that amiableness, that regularity in private 
prayer, and that fervor at the family altar, which 
shall encourage, instruct, confirm, and assist the 
young disciples which sit or wait at our table ? 

How emphatically does this subject speak to the 
Deacons of our Churches ! They, as office-bearers, 



OLDER CHRISTIANS. 155 

are, next to the pastor, the most prominent mem- 
bers of the community of saints. " What manner 
of persons ought they to be in all holy conversation 
and godliness." They, like the Pastor, should be 
" ensamples to the flock." In the original direc- 
tions given by the apostle to the mother-church at 
Jerusalem, for the choice of these officers, its mem- 
bers were to look out for " men of honest report, 
full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom." And they 
chose Stephen, and others, "full of faith and the 
Holy Ghost." Acts vi. How solemn, how holy, 
how responsible, and in some respects, how fearful 
a thing is it to bear office in the church of Christ ; 
in that church which he has purchased with his 
blood, which he died on the cross to redeem, and 
lives to govern as a priest upon his throne. What 
men should our Deacons be, as well as our pastors! 
How holy, how spiritual, how sympathizing, how 
diligent, how devoted to the welfare of the church I 
As they hold their walks amid the members on 
sacramental seasons, distributing the memorials 
of the Savior's dying love, with what reverence 
and affection should they be beheld, as men of un- 
blemished reputation, and of eminent piety ! What 
sacrifices of time, taste, and gratification; what 
self-denial, and labor; should they not be pre- 
pared to make for the benefit of the members? 
Wisdom in council, skill in managing the secular 
affairs of the church, tact in business, are not the 
only qualifications required in them, who are 
placed so near the ark, but the spirit of faith, pray- 



156 INFLUENCE OF 

er, and eminent piety. As they stand and wait in 
the house, or minister at the table of the Lord, it 
should be as clad in the livery of holiness, and 
bearing the image of Christ. Whoever is deficient 
in piety, it should not be they. Whoever casts 
stumbling-blocks in the way of the brethren, it 
should not be they. If the spirit of godliness were 
about to depart from the church, they should stand 
in the gap, and prevent the glory from leaving 
the temple. 

This subject however does not appertain exclu- 
sively to any one class of our senior members, but 
belongs to them all. The apostle takes it for 
granted that a Christian's attainments and useful- 
ness should be in proportion to the date of his pro- 
fession : " When for the time ye ought to be teach- 
ers," was his language to the believing Hebrews. 
What then ought to be the extent of your knowl- 
edge, the maturity of your graces, the depth of 
your experience, the perfection of your example, 
the power of your influence, and the measure of 
your usefulness, who have been planted so many 
years in the courts of the Lord ? What a beauti- 
ful record is it in sacred history of Aquila and 
Priscilla, that this holy pair employed their riper 
knowledge and their richer grace in instructing the 
young and eloquent Apollos in the way of the 
Lord more perfectly. And you know a preacher 
and a pastor, who is not ashamed to avow his ob- 
ligations to a poor and godly couple, long since gone 
to their rest, who by their simple piety, consistent 



OLDER CHRISTIANS, 157 

conduct, friendly disposition and mature experi- 
ence, nurtured the germe of religion in his heart, 
and helped to train the young disciple for useful- 
ness in the church of God. They watched him 
with the solicitude of a father and mother in Is- 
rael, instructed him in their lowly cot, in the prin- 
ciples of the gospel, relieved his perplexities, 
gathered out the stones from his path, and aided 
to establish him in the paths of righteousness and 
peace. How few of the older disciples of the Lord, 
are thus disposed to open their doors to the young 
inquirers after truth and salvation, and to act the 
part of nursing fathers and nursing mothers, to the 
new-born babes in Christ. How useful might be 

THE OLDER FEMALE MEMBERS of the churches, in 

employing those seasons of intercourse which are 
continually occurring with their younger friends, to 
cherish in their minds the spirit of faith, prayer, 
and holiness. Instead of this, is not too much of 
the time spent in useless gossip, frivolous chit-chat, 
and vain discourse on fashion, dress, and news ? 
O ye matronly professors, consider how important 
is the right formation of the female character. 
Recollect that those young women, who frequent 
your house, listen to your conversation, and are 
looking up to you as examples, will perhaps, be 
one day placed at the heads of the families like 
you, and will exert some influence upon the world, 
through their husbands and their children: and 
recollect also, that they will be likely to take the 
tone of their religion, the standard of their woman- 
14 



158 INFLUENCE OF 

ly piety from you. Endeavor, then, to breathe into 
their souls the spirit of ardent and consistent re- 
ligion, repress the disposition to vanity, mould them 
to sobriety of judgment, and train them, as you 
have opportunity, to elevated sentiments of useful- 
ness. Blessed is that woman, she is indeed a 
mother in Israel, who, by her amiable, cheerful 
disposition, united with good sense and engaging 
manners, attracts the younger females to her 
society ; and who, when they are gathered round 
her, exerts her influence to render them blessings r 
both to the church and to the world. It is an ill 
sign for a middLe-aged female professor of religion, 
when the more frivolous of the young are the fond- 
est of her society, and the more spiritual retire from 
it. Perhaps some will reply : " We ought to ex- 
hibit religion to young people with a cheerful as- 
pect." Certainly you ought. I wish you to ap- 
pear ever happy in their presence ; the very type 
of peace ; carrying, in the sunshine of your coun- 
tenances, the index of a mind at rest, and a proof 
that you are the children of light, walking in 
light ;■ — but this is different from froth, and merri- 
ment, and levity. The cheerfulness of a Christian 
should be joy and peace in believing ; rejoicing in. 
the Lord, a serious joy, a joyful seriousness, 
" Speak thou the words which become sound doc- 
trine, that the aged women be in behavior as be- 
cometh holiness — teachers of good things ; that 
they may teach the young women to be sober, to 
love their husbands, to love their children, to be 



OLDER CHRISTIANS. 159 

discreet, chaste, keepers at home — that the word 
of G-od be not blasphemed." Titus ii. 

Let all, then, whether male or female, solemnly 
inquire, whether they have ever yet sufficiently 
estimated the importance of the subject of this 
address. Let them recollect what their own 
ideas and expectations were of older Christians, 
when they entered the church, and what surprise 
and disappointment they experienced. Let them 
consider in what light it may be supposed they 
now appear, to those younger believers who have 
lately become acquainted with them, and ask 
themselves if no surprise has been felt at seeing 
them no more distinguished for spiritual attain- 
ment. Let them look round, and see if some are 
not violating consistency, and pleading their ex- 
ample. Let them especially remember, how re- 
sponsible is their situation, and how fearful a thing 
it is to be the means of lowering in young believers, 
the ideas of the solemnity and spirituality of the 
Christian profession, and of spreading lukewarm- 
ness through the Christian church. 

Young believers, T would conclude with a few 
hints to you. Do not expect to find the Church 
of Christ composed of spotless characters. Do not 
allow yourselves to be staggered, almost to halting, 
by the imperfections you observe in older profes- 
sors. You will see in the interior of the church 
some things that will perplex you. Still, however, 
remember that if there be more sin among profes- 
sors than you expected, there is also more holiness 



160 INFLUENCE OF OLDER CHRISTIANS. 

than you see or know. Multitudes of eminent 
Christians are unknown to you, and it is perhaps 
the most inconsistent ones that you happen to know 
best. G-uard against a censorious, suspicious, and 
arraigning temper. Cultivate ihe spirit of charity, 
so beautifully described in 1 Cor. xiii. and be as 
candid toward the imperfections of others, as a re- 
gard to the claims of truth and holiness will allow ; 
and no more. Especially remember to guard 
against the insidious influence of the defects and 
inconsistencies of older professors. Adopt as your 
standard the word of God. Take up your opinion 
of what religion is, by looking at this, not at the 
conduct of senior Christians, or any Christians. 
He that would form a correct idea of the glory of 
the sun, must see the luminary as he shines from 
a cloudless sky, and not as he is reflected, in a dis- 
torted form, from the troubled surface of the turbid 
lake. 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. * 161 



No. X. 

THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

My Dear Friends : Very little need be said to 
prove to you that the duty and privilege of prayer 
appertain to a believer in Christ, and occupy a 
high place among the obligations and delights of 
the child of God. The whole Bible teaches us the 
importance, necessity, and blessedness of this de- 
vout exercise of the soul. The Old Testament, as 
well as the New, proves that the spirit of true 
godliness is a spirit of supplication ; and the Psalms 
of David will ever remain a manual of devotion 
for the believer, in which he will ever find some 
of the fittest words to pour out the breathings of 
his heart to God. What I design in this address, 
then, is not so much to state the obligations to 
prayer, as to enforce the cultivation of the spirit 
of prayer. 

In almost all occupations, acts, and habits, in 
which man can be engaged, and which recur at 
regularly returning periods, there are both spirit 
and form ; in other words, the visible action, and 
the animating spirit imbodied in that action; 
hence we speak of the spirit of patriotism, of com- 
merce, of enterprise, of religion, of prayer— by 
which we mean a something beside the action 
14* 



162 THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

and of which the action is but the expression. 
The idea is taken from the compound nature of 
man, where, beside the outward and visible form, 
there is the inward and invisible soul, by which 
the former lives, moves, and acts. Now as there 
may be the form of man without the spirit of man> 
so there may be the form of any particular virtue 
or exercise, without the living animating spirit. 
The apostle speaks of some who have the " form 
of godliness, but deny the power [*. e., the spirit] 
thereof:" 2 Tim. iii. 5. And what is said of god- 
liness as a whole, may be said of that particular 
part of it which I am now considering. 

I shall therefore state what I mean by "the 
spirit of prayer," and then enjoin its cultivation. 

To the possession of this spirit it is necessary 
we should have a large measure of those elements 
of which all true prayer is composed. There must 
be a deep, abiding, and impressive sense of want ; 
for prayer is the language of felt necessity. Our 
sense of guilt, depravity, ignorance, weakness, folly, 
danger, must be lively, penetrating, and humbling. 
Without this sense of want, praying is only words 
and heartless forms ; mere hypocritical pretence ; 
a mimicry of devotion; while on the other hand, 
the more we have of this, the more we have of 
the spirit of prayer. Is this then our view of our 
state ? Do we carry about with us continually an 
affecting consciousness of our numerous and pres- 
sing wants ? Have we a sense of destitution, 
always humbling, often afflictive and oppressive ? 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 163 

Do we " groan, being burdened," under a sense of 
our guilt and weakness? The feeling of fulness 
and sufficiency, whether of strength or anything 
else, is the very opposite of the spirit of prayer. 
The church of Laodicea, which said " they were 
rich and increased with goods, and had need of 
nothing," could have had none of the element of 
prayer. Poverty of spirit is essential to this. 

But connected with this, and arising out of it, 
there must be a conscious dependance upon God : 
a habit of regarding him, and looking to him as the 
source of supply: a feeling similar to what the 
Psalmist experienced when he said: "All my 
springs are in thee." — " My soul wait thou only up- 
on God, for my expectation is from him." — " I will 
lift up my eyes unto the hills, whence cometh my 
help. My help cometh from the Lord who made 
heaven and earth." — "With thee is the fountain 
of life." A prevailing habit of dependance upon 
<xod, a consciousness that he is our only and all- 
sufficient resource, is the very spirit of prayer. 

To this must be added the exercise of faith and 
confidence in God through Christ. " He that 
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that 
he is the rewarder of all them that diligently seek 
him." Without faith there can he no acceptable 
worship. " Let him ask in faith, nothing waver- 
ing," said the apostle, "for he that wavereth is 
like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and 
tossed. For let not that man think he shall re- 
ceive anything of the Lord." James i. 6, 7. We 



164 THE SPIRIT OF PRAY/ER. 

must believe in God's character as a God of love, 
delighting to dispense happiness to his creatures ; 
as a God of wisdom and power, able and willing 
to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask 
or think. We must believe that prayer is his own 
appointed method of approaching him, and that 
which is agreeable to him, welcome to him, and 
well-pleasing in his eyes ; that we can never please 
him better than when we go with enlarged desires 
after spiritual blessings to his throne ; nor do him 
greater honor than when we expect large commu- 
nications of his grace. We must believe in Christ 
as the only way to the Father, and believe that by 
this way, and this only, he is ever accessible. 
Such a faith is a necessary and an important ele- 
ment in the spirit of prayer. The stronger and 
more prevailing this is, the more fervent and de- 
lightful will be our supplications at the throne of 
the heavenly majesty. By such views of God and 
Christ, we shall be irresistibly drawn to the foot- 
stool of divine mercy. Our lukewarmness will 
kindle into holy warmth under such persuasions 
of the inexhaustible bounty of God, and we shall 
feel the sweet attractions of his love, dissipating 
our fears, removing our reluctance, and engaging 
our confidence. 

The spirit of adoption as a fruit of this faith, is 
also an element of the spirit of prayer. We are 
to come with boldness to the throne of grace. That 
is, we are to come in the spirit of a child, conscious 
that he is ever welcome to his Father in heaven. 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 165 

This is beautifully described by the apostle where 
he says: "Ye have not received the spirit of bond- 
age again to fear ; but ye have received the spirit 
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Rom. 
viii. 15. None can pray acceptably to God or com- 
fortably to themselves, but in this spirit. Prayer* 
is not the language of fear and dread, but of love 
and confidence. It is not a groaning extorted by 
the pressure of mere misery, like the howling of 
wild beasts, to which indeed the Lord likens the 
petitions of wicked men in their sorrows, where 
he says : " They have not cried unto me with their 
hearts, when they howled upon their beds;" Hos. 
vii. 14: but it is the breathing forth of our wants 
with an affectionate confidence in him who alone 
can supply them. The more clearly we realize 
the character of God as our reconciled Father in 
Christ, and our relation to him as his children, the 
more we possess of the element of the spirit of 
prayer. 

An habitual and trustful anticipation of all from 
God, which he has promised in his word, author- 
ized us to ask, and encouraged us to expect, is an- 
other thing essential to this spirit. If God had 
given us no promises of blessings, no warrant to 
ask for them, no reason to expect them, prayer, 
if presented at all, could be offered at best but in 
painful uncertainty, in gloomy despondeucy, or in 
feeble and fluctuating hope. There might by 
possibility be prayer, but there could not be the 
spirit of it, which certainly implies a cheerful ex- 



166 THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

pectation of being heard, answered, and blessed. 
Such, then, are the elements of the spirit I am 
now enjoining, a deep sense of want, and of de- 
pen dance upon God ; a lively faith in God as tho 
hearer and answerer of prayer, and in Christ as 
the medium ; a spirit of adoption, and a trustful 
expectation of such blessings from God, as are 
needful for our real welfare. In the absence of 
these things, however we may abound in the ex- 
ercises and the forms of devotion, there can be no 
prayer. These constitute the very soul of all 
piety toward God, and without which the best 
composed formularies and the most evangelical 
sentiments, are but as the statute or the corpse, 
without the animating mind. These are neces- 
sary to all acceptable petitions to God: and the 
more they are cultivated, the more we shall feel 
disposed and enabled to pray : these cherished in 
the heart will make every place an oratory, and 
produce not merely an occasional, but an abiding 
intercourse with God. 

But another thing intended by the spirit of 
prayer, is a scriptural, intelligent, and deep con- 
viction of the necessity, utility, and value of this ex- 
ercise ; a state of mind the very opposite of that 
expressed by some of old, who said, " What profit 
should we have if we pray unto him." Jobxxi. 15. 
The design and utility of prayer are altogether 
set aside or attempted to be set aside by worldly 
and wicked men, and that by various modes of 
false reasoning: and even lukewarm Christians 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 167 

are occasionally entangled in the sophisms and 
fallacies of such infidel objections. But a man in 
whom lives the spirit of prayer, is little troubled 
with such cavils and difficulties. He not only 
bows to the authority of God who has enjoined 
the exercise, but he sees too clearly the evidences 
of its utility, and has tasted too sweetly its rich 
advantages to stand in any doubt about the matter. 
He has proved its direct tendency to improve his 
character, to lighten his cares, to alleviate his 
sorrows, to subdue his corruptions, and to obtain 
the blessings which he needed; and, therefore, by 
the results of his. experience, as well as by the tes- 
timony of Scripture, and the consent of the church 
of God, he has learned to think highly of prayer. 
It is in him a rooted conviction that it is not a vain 
thing thus to serve the Lord. He has learned to 
consider prayer the very soul of godliness, and the 
life of religion ; and forms his estimate of the de- 
gree of piety collectively or individually possessed 
by others, by the degree of prayer to which they 
have attained. With him a man of piety means 
a man of prayer ; and an eminent Christian is one, 
in whom is an eminent measure of the gift and 
grace of prayer. 

The spirit of prayer means, a love to the exercise, 
and an habitual delight in it. It is that state of 
mind, at least resembles it, which in secular 
matters we call having a taste for anything; 
which in addition to the performance of the thing, 
implies a delight in the performing of it ; which, 



10O THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

though it may refer to a matter of duty, converts 
the doing of it into a privilege, and takes off the 
idea of compulsion, and hardship, and penance. 
Prayer is the delight of him in whom dwells the 
spirit of it. The closet is his beloved retreat, to 
which he is drawn hy an attraction, like that 
which allures us to the society of- a beloved and 
valued friend in his own home when he is alone. 
He does not go there to perform a penance, quiet 
his conscience, and get rid of a task which must 
be done, and the sooner it is done the better. No. 
He loves to go and disburden his mind, and ex- 
press his wants, and breathe out his desires to 
God. He loves God, and his prayers are his com- 
munings with God. It is to no other than God, 
supremely good and glorious, and to his God by 
covenant engagement, that his soul elevates her- 
self in prayer — elevates not only her intellect, but 
her conscience, her affections, her sympathies — her 
whole immortal and ethereal self; not to speculate, 
but to adore — to commune— to breathe out his love, 
and desires, and longings, into the very bosom and 
heart of the High and Holy One. It is to God 
through Christ, and by the Spirit's help that he 
speaks, and opens his lips in ingenuous confession, 
grateful thanksgiving, adoring praise, and strong 
supplication; and there also, while prostrate before 
the flowing fountain of life, he expands his heart 
to receive the vital streams of light and love, as 
they gush from their crystal and perennial source. 
Now this is joy, and peace, and sacred delight. 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 16^ 

True it is, that it is not always so. There are 
seasons when, through the chilling influence of the 
world, the power of unbelief, and the urgency of 
eare, or the pressure of anxiety, he too much neg- 
lects his duty and slights his privilege; but still, 
just in proportion as the spirit of prayer is possess- 
ed by any one, is there a love of prayer — and this 
love is the spirit of it. 

Where this state of mind exists in a high degree, 
there is, in addition to the habit of prayer at stated 
seasons, a prevailing disposition to blend the exer- 
cise of it with all the occurrences of life, and to 
permeate and season the whole of our character 
and conduct with its blessed and sanctifying influ- 
ence. The man in whom it dwells gives himself 
to prayer ; surrenders up his mind, and heart, and 
conscience, and life, to its guiding and controlling 
power. In one sense he literally " prays always," 
and " continues instant in prayer." The morning, 
and evening, and mid-day visit to the throne of 
grace do not satisfy him ; nor even " the seven 
times a day" calling upon God. His heart, like a 
round ball which needs but tne gentlest impulse 
to set it in motion, requires only the slightest inci- 
dent to give it a direction toward God in the act 
of prayer. Is he going into any new situation of 
trial and of danger, he runs by prayer to God as 
his shield and buckler. Does he foresee the coming 
■ storm of affliction, he places himself by prayer in 
the refuge provided. Has some premonition of 
approaching prosperity been granted him, he an- 
15 



\70 THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

ticipates its ensnaring influence by fervent suppli- 
cation. He thus watches unto prayer, looking 
around him, and before him, for the circumstances 
which render it necessary and important. And in 
addition to this also, he lives in the practice and 
the confirmed habit of ejaculatory prayer. He 
seems never to trust himself far from the throne 
of grace ; and walking with God, realizes his pres- 
ence everywhere. In his house, as he silently 
surveys his mercies or his trials, he often sends up 
a short petition for a sanctified use of both ; and r 
when seated amid his children, secretly aspirates 
the desire : " Oh that Ishmael may live before thee." 
As he walks along the streets and hears the blas- 
phemies of the profane, and sees the wickedness 
of the wicked, he darts a petition to heaven for 
the pouring out of the spirit of God upon the 
people. "While his form moves through th e crowd, 
with no visible or audible sign of devotion, he is 
walking with God and conversing with heaven. 
In his transactions with men, he still maintains 
this intercourse with God. Is he provoked, till he 
begins to feel his spirit growing hot within him ; 
he suddenly controls his rising anger by the power 
of prayer. Is he injured; he prays, "Father, for- 
give them, for they know not what they do." Does 
a sudden temptation assail his integrity or chasti- 
ty, or mercy, he sighs forth a supplication for grace 
to resist it. See him in his attendance upon the 
means of grace : it is not enough that he prayed 
for his minister and for himself in his closet before 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 171 

he left the house, but on the way to the sanctuary 
his thoughts go up in prayer to heaven, for the 
blessing which his soul needs. He prays while 
hearing the sermon, and instead of dissipating by 
frivolous conversation the impressions it has made 
on his mind, he seals them upon his heart by silent 
prayer on his way home. In company, he is 
sometimes in a world of his own, and unheard and 
unseen, is wrestling with God for some individual 
present, who needs his intercession, or in reference 
to some circumstance which the conversation has 
brought before him. In his silent and solitary 
walks amid the scenes of nature, he communes 
with nature's God. When the dispensations of 
Providence are mentioned in his hearing, whether 
they refer to the nation at large, or to individuals, 
•or families, he finds a subject of prayer suggested, 
which gives him an errand to God. The moral 
and spiritual state of the world is mentioned in his 
hearing, and instead of putting off the subject till 
the missionary prayer-meeting comes round, he 
ejaculates with a sigh the petition : " Let thy way 
be known upon earth, thy saving health among 
all nations."" 

In' this way the spirit of prayer diffuses itself 
throughout the whole character and conduct of 
him in whom it flourishes. It can no more be 
confined to times, and places, and particular occa- 
sions, than the spirit of patriotism, or of philosophy, 
or of commerce, can be shut up to periodical exer- 
cises and expressions in some special places. No : 



172 THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

when the spirit of any occupation or pursuit be in 
•a man, it will be like a part of himself, and will 
follow him everywhere, and into everything. 
And this applies as truly to prayer as to anything 
«lse. 

You mistake, then, if your only idea of prayer 
be that of an exercise to be performed night and 
morning, whether in pre-composed forms, or in 
extemporaneous expressions, of a given length, a 
certain vehemence, or a due solemnity, and which 
being done, is all that is required. Prayer is 
something more than this, it is the sense of want 
and of dependance upon God constantly cherished 
in the soul; habitually leading to expressions of 
desire, according to his own method of giving 
utterance to our necessities. Stated times there 
must and will be for this exercise in the ordinary 
circumstances of life, and these should be regular- 
ly, solemnly, and spiritually observed : but these 
constitute a very small part of the life of prayer. 
With too many they are only forms, observed out 
of mere custom, or to keep the conscience quiet, 
but carried on in total separation from the living 
spirit. 

The spirit of prayer supposes not only sincerity, 
and constancy, and an all-pervading exercise, but 
also importunity and fervor. It is not merely 
correct language, and evangelical sentiments, and 
■solemn tones, and reverential postures, but strong 
^desires, ardent aspirations, and importunate en- 
treaties. " It is the effectual fervent prayer ,of the 



THE SPIRIT OF PRATER. 173 

righteous man that availeth much." James v. 16. 
What specimens of this have we in the Psalms 
of David. Those inspired models of prayer are 
not mere words, but desires issuing from the in- 
most recesses of the soul, the groanings of the 
heart, the struggles of an agonizing spirit, and 
uttered in appropriate and impassioned language. 
And what believer has not passed through seasons 
in which no words of his own seemed sufficiently 
expressive of his intense feelings; and he has, 
therefore, had recourse to these cries of the man 
after God's own heart, as the best outlets of the 
deep sorrows and ardent wishes of his own labor- 
ing soul. By importunity, I do not mean loud and 
clamorous language, much less rude and unhallow- 
ed familiarity, or demand and dictation, but the 
beseeching spirit, and imploring heart ; which in 
many cases is the groaning that cannot be uttered, 
and the faith that takes hold of God's strength. 
How often, after we have listened to some more 
than ordinary importunate supplication presented 
at the meetings for social devotion, have we felt 
and said : " That was the very spirit of prayer." 
Yea, we have had, may be, such seasons in our 
own closet. It was not the flow of words merely, 
for, perhaps, we could find none sufficiently ex- 
pressive and emphatic to convey the mighty wants 
and wishes that were burning in the heart for 
utterance. No : it was the struggles and wrestling 
of the laboring bieast after some object of its in- 
tense desire, and in reference to which it felt al- 
15* 



174 THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

most prompted and authorized to say : " I will not 
let thee go except thou bless me." 

Such, my dear friends, is what I mean by the 
spirit of prayer. Some of you know it by a blessed 
experience, far better than I can describe it ; but 
others, I am afraid, know too little about it, and 
are ready, perhaps, to consider and to call it mere 
enthusiasm, or the raptures of a mystic piety. 
You know better, at least most of you, and happy 
shall I be, if my description of it shall stir you up 
to cultivate this devotional frame of mind. There 
is far too little of it in the present day. This fine 
ethereal temper is but too apt to dissipate amid 
the bustle and ardor of our stirring age. Blessed 
be God, it is a stirring age, nor would I paralyze 
an energy, nor suppress an effort that is employed 
for the world's conversion. I would not call home 
the laborer from the great field of Christian zeal, 
to shut him up in the closet or the cloister of per- 
sonal devotion; but I would entreat him to make 
the closet his dwelling-place, to which he shall 
nightly retire to cultivate the spirit of prayer, and 
from which, with a vigorous and healthy piety, 
he shall go forth in the morning to his holy in- 
dustry. I want the church to be fitted for her 
great calling and commission in the conversion of 
the world, by an appropriate frame and disposition. 
This kind goeth not forth but by fasting and pray- 
er. Eminent piety is essential to eminent useful- 
ness. It is only in the spirit of faith and prayer, 
that the church can hope to convert the world. 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 175 

And what is the duty and the business of the 
church as a whole, is the duty and the business 
of every one of its members. 

Let every one enter into this vital subject, for 
such it is. Your spiritual health must be estima- 
ted by the measure in which you possess this love 
and practice of prayer. This is soul prosperity, 
followed out, as it will be, where it really exists, 
by all the various details of Christian holiness. 
The spirit of prayer is the great antagonist of sin. 
" If I regard iniquity in my heart," said the Psalm- 
ist, " the Lord will not hear me." Psalm lxvi. 18. 
Nothing opposes such a resistance and counterac- 
tion to the corruptions of our nature as this frame 
of mind. The fire of devotion will be in us, if it 
exist at all, as a purifying fire. And then what a 
source of comfort would this indwelling spirit of 
devotion prove to us. It would give us an abiding 
sense of the nearness of God, and keep us ever 
walking on the verge of heaven. We could thus 
converse with God wherever we go. As soon as 
we retired into ourselves with a design to breathe 
out our desires to him, we should find him with 
us. As soon as we think, so soon are we with 
God. In the twinkling of an eye we find him. 
We look unto him and are lightened. Thus with 
a cast of the mind's eye, the soul is filled, and finds 
itself replenished with a divine and vital light, 
that diffuseth the sweetest and most pleasant in- 
fluences through the whole soul. Plow would it 
soften the cares, lighten the sorrows, and facilitate 



176 THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

the duties of life, if this habitual reference to God 
pervaded all. How would it smooth our rugged 
course across this desert earth, thus to draw down 
upon it the light and the help of Heaven. 

Dear friends, know your privilege, and cultivate 
the spirit of prayer: if this be low, all is low in 
the soul ; while, if this be vigorous, all is vigorous. 

" Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw; 
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw j 
Gives exercise to faith and love ; 
Brings every blessing from above. 

" Restraining prayer we cease to fight ; 
Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright ; 
And Satan trembles when he sees 
The weakest saint upon his knees." 

In the cultivation of the spirit of prayer, it is of 
great consequence that we recollect our depend- 
ance for this, as well as for the right performance 
of every other branch of Christian duty, is on the 
aid of the Holy Ghost. The Divine Spirit is our 
prompter and helper in prayer, as well as the 
efficient agent in all the other parts of true holi- 
ness. " Likewise," says the apostle, " the spirit 
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not 
what we should pray for as we ought : but the 
spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groan- 
ings which cannot be uttered. And he that search- 
eth the hearts knoweth what is the mird of the 
spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints 
according to the will of God." Rom. viii. 26, 27. 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. ( 177 

w Praying always with all prayer and supplication 
in the spirit." Ephes. vi. 18. "But ye, beloved, 
building up yourselves on your holy faith, praying 
in the Holy Ghost." Jude 20. In all these passages 
very explicit reference is made to the work of the 
spirit in prayer. Not, however, that we are 
to neglect prayer, any more than we are to 
neglect any other part of our duty, till we feel a 
conscious impulse of the Spirit moving us to it ; but 
we are to go continually to the exercise, in a state 
of desire after and dependance upon this Divine 
helper of our infirmities. We are not to wait/or 
the Spirit, but to work and pray in the Spirit. It 
is the Spirit that gives us a just and impressive 
view of our wants, that produces, in fact, all the 
elements of prayer ; that stirs up the slumbering 
graces of the soul; that gives clear encouraging 
views of God as the hearer and answerer of pray- 
er; that assists the believer to understand the 
word of God, and to take encouraging views of the 
atonement and intercession of Christ. Consider, 
then, your need of the Spirit; pray for the Spirit; 
expect the Spirit ; lean upon the Spirit. The spirit 
of prayer in man is the production of the spirit of 
God. You need a double intercessor in prayer, so 
great is this act and exercise ; an intercessor for 
you in heaven, which is Christ; and an interces- 
sor in you upon earth, which is the Holy Spirit; 
and you have, or may have, both. 

Whatever you do in the way of active duty ; 
whatever you give in the way of liberality ; what- 



178 THE SPIRIT OF PRATER. 

i 

ever you endure in the way of suffering ; do not be 
satisfied with your state, do not conclude that "it 
is well" with you as a Christian, without much of 
that frame of mind, which it is the object of this 
address to explain and recommend; and it will be 
a rich reward and consolation to me, if I shall see 
evidence that this effort of your pastor has been 
blessed to increase in you the spirit of prayer. 



PRIVATE PRATER. 179 



No. XI. 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 



My Dear Friends : " Apostacy from God begins 
at the closet door." So said the excellent Mat- 
thew Henry; and the experience of multitudes 
has proved the truth of the remark. A prayerless 
profession of religion will soon be thrown aside 
as an encumbrance. To guard you against this 
fearful state, and to lead you on to higher degrees 
of a devotional enjoyment, is the design of the 
present number, as well as of the preceding one. 
The last was on the spirit of prayer, without 
which no religious exercises are either profitable 
to us, or acceptable to God; and the subject of this 
admonition is that particular kind of supplication 
which we denominate private prayer, because it 
is performed by each individual in retirement. 
This species of devotion is inseparable from a 
state of grace ; it is one of the first, one of the 
plainest, and strongest symptoms of spiritual life. 

A Christian sustains a personal relation to God, 
has personal wants, sins, and obligations, and feels 
it therefore both his duty and his privilege to go 
and speak to God alone. To this he is enjoined 
by the highest authority : " But thou when thou 
prayest," said Christ, " enter into thy closet, and 



180 PRIVATE PRATER. 

when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 
which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth 
in secret, shall reward thee openly." Matt. vi. 6. 
The word " closet" in the original, signifies cham- 
ber, warehouse, or even cellar; in short a'ny secret 
place : and some suppose our Lord designedly em- 
ployed a word jf such latitude, that none might 
omit prayer under a pretence that they had not a 
proper place to which to retire. Place is nothing, 
disposition in prayer is everything. "I will," said 
the apostle, " that men pray everywhere, lifting up 
holy hands." Blessed privilege ! There is no 
place in which it is suitable for a Christian to be 
found, in which it is unsuitable for him to pray. 

Nothing is said in Scriptures either as to the 
time, the frequency, or the length of our prayers. 
Nature seems to point out, as suitable, the morn- 
ing, when we are going forth to meet the duties 
and dangers, trials and difficulties of the world; 
and the evening, when we have to review the 
conduct of the day, and need protection for the 
night. And how beneficial have many found five 
or ten minutes at noon given to this sacred exer- 
cise. A solemn, though it be a short pause at 
mid-day to send up a look to God, a cry to heaven, 
would prove a sweet refreshment, and a powerful 
protection. No general rule can be laid down as 
to the length of our private devotions. This, like 
many other of our duties under the Christian dis- 
pensation, is intrusted to our sense of duty, and 
to our feelings of love and gratitude. It depends 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 181 

in measure on the nature and number of other 
duties ; the peculiarity of our situation ; the spe- 
cific objects for which we pray; the engagedness 
of our attention ; and the intensity of our feelings. 
Colonel Gardiner, whose engagements were such 
that he could often command only one season ot 
retirement in a day, used to spend two hours in 
devotion before he went out in a morning ; to com- 
mand which he always rose early, and if it were 
necessary, as was sometimes the case, when his 
regiment was on the march, for him to leave home 
before the time allotted to his closet, he would 
rise at an earlier hour to secure his usual term of 
communion with God. Luther thought three 
hours a day little enough to spend in prayer. Few 
Christians can imitate these men. Perhaps there 
are few, who if they had much of the spirit of 
prayer, could not and would not command half an 
hour once a day, and most, by a proper economy 
of time, and an abridgment of unnecessary slum- 
ber, could secure double this portion. There is 
very little danger in these days of feeble devotion, 
engrossing secularity, and active zeal, of spending 
too much time in the closet ; the danger lies on 
the other side. Everything connected with reli- 
gion, except public meetings, which often have 
very little of religion in them, must be short — 
short sermons — short prayers — short meditations 
— short devotion — short books — short religion. 

It does not much matter what part of the day 
is devoted to prayer. No hour is canonical. Most 



192 PRIVATE PRAYER , 

persons find it convenient to give the morning be* 
fore the business of the -world commences, and the 
evening, after it is finished ; but some, for instance, 
servants and laboring men, and the mothers of 
young families, cannot so exactly and independ- 
ently command and arrange their time, and they 
must get what they can, and select the time most 
convenient to their peculiar circumstances. Deep- 
ly do I feel for these classes of my members, and 
most anxious am I, lest in the urgency of their 
pursuits, the constant recurrence of their duties, 
and the wearisome nature of their labors, they 
should lose the spirit and love of prayer, by being 
deprived of much of the opportunity for its peri- 
odical and regular performance ; and sink into a 
state of lukewarmness and neglect. Endeavor, 
my dear friends, to keep up habitual devotion in 
your souls; and as intervals of leisure can be 
found through the day, steal away to your cham- 
ber at any hour to commune w T ith God in secret. 
In this respect " watch unto prayer," by looking 
after those opportunities which you may be able 
to embrace without neglecting other incumbent 
duties. 

Perhaps a few directions for the right perform- 
ance of this exercise, may be of importance. Do 
not be satisfied with mere formality. Forget not 
you have to do with one who searcheth the heart 
and trieth the reins of the children of men. How 
indignantly did G-od complain of the Jews when 
he said : " This people draweth nigh unto me 



PRIVATE PPwAYER. 183 

-with their mouth, and honoreth me with their 
lips, but their heart is far from me." Matt. xv. 8. 
Nothing is more insulting to God, or more injuri- 
ous to ourselves, than cold, heartless, formal 
prayers. Our devotions do us either great good 
or harm. Insincere and spiritless prayers are a 
most profane trifling with religion ; they are like 
offering dead sacrifices upon God's altar which 
are not only unacceptable to him, but harden the 
hearts of those by whom they are presented. 
Some persons are made worse by their very devo- 
tions. Nothing tends more to abate our reverence 
for God, or our fear of offending him, than a care- 
less method of addressing him. The servant that 
can habitually speak to his master in a disrespect- 
ful manner, acquires a familiarity, which saps the 
very principle of obedience. Be solemn then and 
devout in all your addresses to God, for he is a 
jealous God. 

Let your prayers be strictly private. " Enter 
into thy closet, and shut thy door ; pray to thy 
Father which is in secret" There should not be 
a single human being, with you : the presence 
even of a child, capable of noticing what is going 
on, should be felt as a hinderance, a restraint, and 
an embarrassment. It is not enough, that only 
your husband, or your wife, is with you ; even this 
near and dear friend must be away. You must 
be alone with God. If prayer were a mere form, 
this entire privacy would not be necessary ; but it 
is a spiritual exercise ; it is the breathing out of 



184 PRIVATE PRAYER. 

the heart to God; it is the mind disburdening 
herself to God ; it is the soul in the confessional 
with God, where there are sins to be confessed, 
sorrows to be uttered, petitions to be presented, 
and thanksgivings to be offered which no ear but 
his must hear, or ought to hear. It is true, there 
may be cases in which this absolute privacy, at 
least for a constancy, is difficult, if not impossible; 
and in this case, a very rare one, I admit, it is better 
to pray before others, than not at all. But who 
cannot be sometimes alone ? Even where two or 
more sleep in the same room, that same room is 
not always engaged, and may be occupied some 
part of the day by the lover of prayer. Those 
who content themselves with merely dropping 
upon their knees and repeating a few words, on 
retiring to rest, or rising in the morning, before 
others, but who never seek to be alone ; who have 
no desire for devotion, strictly secret ; who have 
nothing to say to God, which he alone must listen 
to, and feel no impulse to speak to him, when no 
one is by, know nothing of prayer : they may 
maintain the form, but they know nothing of the 
power of godliness. The saints of Scripture are 
represented as going to pray apart. Isaac went 
by himself to the fields to meditate, and doubtless 
to pray. Jacob wrestled alone with the angel at 
Peniel. Moses worshipped alone at the burning 
bush. David's Psalms were most of them prayers, 
uttered in absolute retirement. Daniel prayed in 
his chamber alone. Philip lifted up his heart 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 185 

under the fig-tree. Peter went up to the house* 
top to pray. Yea, our divine Lord went often 
by himself into a mountain to pray. 

Our prayers ought to be specific, varied, and 
definite. We should not go to the throne of the 
heavenly majesty without an errand and an object. 
Many people go away into their closets because 
they must say their prayers. The time has come 
when they are in the habit of going by themselves 
for prayer in the morning, at noon, or whatever 
time of the day it may be ; and instead of having 
anything to say, any definite object before the 
mind, they fall down on their knees, and pray for 
just what comes into their minds; for everything 
that floats in their imaginations at the time, and 
when they have done, they could hardly tell a 
word of what they had been praying for. This is 
not effectual prayer. "What should we think of 
anybody who should try to move a legislature so, 
and should say : " Now it is winter, and the par- 
liament is sitting, and it is time to send up peti- 
tions ;" and should go up to the legislature and 
petition at random, without any definite object ? 
Do you think such petitions would move the legis- 
lature ? Many people's prayers are nothing else 
but this going into their room, and saying just 
what comes into their heads at the time, and 
hence if they do not use a form, as few do or need, 
their prayers are mere incoherent words, or ram- 
blings of thought, which have scarcely the char- 
acter of prayer about them ; and which, if the/ 
16* 



186 PRIVATE PRAYER. 

were penned down, and shown to them afterward, 
would cause them to blush that they had ever 
thus addressed the great and holy God. To guard 
against this, it would be well to have a list of 
subjects of prayer, either in the mind, or drawn 
up on paper, and one appropriated to each day. 
The orderly returns of days and nights invite us 
to this : there seem to be subjects which belong 
to particular seasons; Saturday evening calls us 
to confession of sin, and thanksgiving for mercies: 
sabbath morning to prayer for ministerial holiness, 
and success in preaching the word: Monday 
morning to ask for help in duty, and grace to adorn 
our profession in all the various obligations of 
social and civil life. Thus each day might have 
its appropriated subject of prayer, and object of 
specific errand to the throne of God. One day 
may be specially appointed for thanksgiving, an- 
other for adoration, another for petition. One 
may be set apart for our relatives, another for those 
who desire an interest in our supplications. All 
the great Christian institutions of the age; our 
own religious denomination; the holy catholic 
church ; our country ; may all, and should all, be 
introduced, not for mere form's sake, or cursorily 
and as by accident, but specifically, successively, 
with a deep interest in their welfare and a devout 
recollection that God alone can bless them. As 
your teacher and pastor, I say to you : " Brethren, 
pray for me." I need your prayers. I ask them. 
I am entitled to them. I value them. Remem- 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 187 

ber me in your holiest moments, and nearest ap- 
proaches to God. And do not forget your fellow- 
members. Let your church have a large share of 
your private prayers. 

There are many advantages in this. Such a 
method would lead us actually to pray, whereas 
a great deal of what goes by that name does not 
deserve to be so called ; it would keep our thoughts 
from wandering, a subject of incessant complaint 
with most Christians ; it would render the exer- 
cise more interesting, by giving us an object, and 
keeping up variety; and it would engage our 
hearts in a more solemn and sacred manner in the 
various matters which are thus successively car- 
ried by us to the footstool of heaven. This plan 
of select subjects for prayer has been tried by 
many persons with vast advantage to the devo- 
tional state of their souls. It is not necessary the 
list of subjects should be £xed and invariable, but 
be sometimes changed ; yet still, ever presenting 
something definite to the mind in her approaches 
to God. Some new object will be ever supplying 
itself to the Christian in the course of his reading, 
observation, or experience, which, while it con- 
stantly becomes the subject of a momentary ejac- 
ulation to God at the time, may be treasured up 
in his mind, for more specific and lengthened sup- 
plication at a convenient season. 

Such a prayer ; the feeling of a strong desire 
after some definite object, relating either to our- 
selves or others, which we know God alone can 



188 PRIVATE PRAYER. 

grant, and which, therefore, we carry to him in 
the way of fervent and believing supplication. It 
is the expression to him of something we really 
feel at the time, either of gratitude, adoration, 
humiliation, or petition, and to express which we 
enter our closet, and shut the door to commuue 
about this very matter with our Father which 
seeth in secret. 

But if you should not deem it best, or necessa- 
ry, to keep a list of subjects, and to appropriate 
them to particular days, still, in every approach to 
God in prayer, let there be a solemn pause, while 
the inquiry is asked: "What should I now make 
the subject of my petition at the throne of grace?" 
The mind would then have some object on which 
to concentrate its thoughts and feelings. There 
is a danger, as I have, I believe, expressed before 
in a former number, lest the frequency and con- 
stant recurrence of the seasons of devotion, should 
abate in our minds that seriousness and delibera- 
tion with which we ought ever to call upon the 
Lord ; and thus the whole business of prayer 
would sink into a mere form. 

Connect with private prayer, the perusal of the 
Word of God, meditation, self examination, and, 
cohere there is time for it, the reading of devotional 
uninspired books, especially religious biography : 
but as there is with many Christians but a limited 
opportunity for reading, and no book should be 
allowed to supplant the Bible, it is best to allot 
the few minutes that can be spared for this exer- 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 189 

cise, to the Word of God. Read this, not pro- 
miscuously, but in regular course. Do not waste 
your time in inquiring what portion you should 
read, "much less adopt the heathenish practice of 
dipping into the Bible, as a lottery book, to try 
your luck in rinding suitable passages/' 

It is obvious that if a Christian would keep up 
the exercise of the closet with edification and enjoy- 
ment, he must make a solemn business of it. The 
whole matter must be one of conscience, and of 
vast importance. He must find time for it, and if 
his heart be right with God, he will. He will 
watch unto prayer. It will be matter of contri- 
vance with him to guard against whatever would 
prevent, or shorten his exercises; it will be a grief 
to him to be interrupted ; and in order to have 
time at command for the exercise, he will rise 
early for this purpose. Perhaps there is not a 
more common or successful hinderance to private 
prayer than late rising from led. How many 
slumber away, I repeat it, that time in bed which 
should be spent in supplication to God. Tell me 
not you have no time to pray, if you have made 
up your mind to lie sleeping till eight o'clock in 
the morning. If you cannot sacrifice half an 
hour's ease "to commune with God, to attend to 
your soul's concerns, to prepare by devotion for 
the trials and duties of the day, what is your reli- 
gion worth ? How can you be in earnest ? How 
can you expect your soul to prosper ? 

But there is another direction I would give, 



190 PRIVATE PRATER. 

and that is, in addition to the usual and regular 
seasons of prayer, set apart occasional and extra- 
ordinary ones, when, with more than ordinary so- 
lemnity and length, you enter into the concerns of 
your soul ; and it would be well also to unite fast- 
ing with prayer. Such seasons, devoutly observed, 
have wonderful power to check the growth of 
worldly-mind edness, to rouse the flagging spirit of 
devotion, to increase spirituality, subdue irregu- 
larities, and to cast out every unclean spirit from 
the mind. They invigorate every Christian pur- 
pose, move the deep fountains of spiritual feeling, 
launch our spirits on the ocean of eternity, and 
lead us to commune with its transforming realities. 
Martin Luther devoted one day every week in 
this way, and far from finding it tedious, he hailed 
it as the best of the six. I do not say that many 
can imitate him in the extent of his practice, but 
all may in the principle of it. Set apart such 
seasons, as your birthday, your new-birth day, if it 
tian be ascertained, the last day of the year, or 
the anniversary of some signal deliverance, or an 
occasional sabbath evening after the Lord's Sup- 
per, as a season of special prayer. 

I will now correct a few mistakes into which 
some have fallen on the subject of private prayer. 

The closet ought not to be considered, as it is 
Tw many, exclusively devoted to our own personal 
religion. Private prayer is not to be made selfish 
prayer. Our own wants, woes, sins, and duties, 
are one object, and indeed the primary one, but 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 191 

not the only one. We should he happier and 
holier than we are, if we had more love to others, 
more feeling for the church and the world, and 
less of individual feeling. Charity and brotherly- 
kindness, did they exist as they ought, would over- 
flow from the heart in intercession for their proper 
objects, at those seasons when we were praying 
for ourselves. 

Christians oftentimes do not pray in faith : and 
yet this is prescribed, and prescribed too, as the 
condition of success. James i. 6. To pray in 
faith means a firm persuasion that through the 
mediation of Christ, we are authorized to pray ; 
that our prayers are really heard ; and that in spir- 
itual blessings, we shall have the very things we 
ask ; and in temporal ones, those or better. Many 
persons do not care about success through care- 
lessness, others do not expect it, through despond- 
ency : but faith after looking up for the blessing, 
actually looks out for it. Effectual prayer is not 
mere clamorous importunity, but believing expect- 
ation. We must not knock at the door of mercy, 
and then walk away in despair, but wait in hope. 

We must not allow family prayer to supersede 
thai which is private and personal ; any more than 
we should allow public worship to supersede the 
sacrifice at the family altar. It is an ill sign for 
any one who feels a disposition to make attention 
to one duty an excuse for neglecting another. 

Many think they ought not to pray, except they 
are in a good frame, and feel a strong impulse to 



192 PRIVATE PRAYER. 

the exercise. Our feelings cannot be the standard 
of our duty. If we adopt the rule of never pray- 
ing except when we feel strongly inclined to it, 
Satan and a deceitful heart will allow us but few 
opportunities. We might as well neglect public, 
social, or domestic worship, because we are not 
in a good frame, or do not feel the Spirit moving 
us, as omit private prayer : nay, we might, for the 
same reason, as well give up reading the Scrip- 
tures, and every duty we owe to God or man, till 
we are inclined to them. The very want of dis- 
position is a sin, which we should go and confess 
to God, and beg for his grace to warm our cold 
hearts. The spirit of prayer, comes to us in the 
act of prayer, and not in the neglect of it. I have 
read of a Christian female who was induced to act 
on this unscriptural rule, of praying only when the 
spirit moved her to it, and she became the prey 
and sport of temptation, and was for a long time 
in a state of the most distressing gloom and doubts 
of her piety. 

Some I am afraid are putting the regular per- 
formance of private prayer in the place of other 
duties, and making it a substitute for other and 
more self denying parts of religion. There are 
not a few, who as regularly go into their closet 
to pray as the time comes round, and who would 
not be happy to neglect a single opportunity, but 
whose predominant love of the world, covetous- 
ness, bad temper, or other inconsistencies of con- 
duct, plainly indicate a total want of true faith. 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 193 

Do you need motives to induce a more earnest 
attention to the exercise ? How many are at 
hand ? 

It is not only your incumbent duty, but the test 
of the sincerity of your profession. It you do not 
practise, and love the exercises of the closet, and 
make provision for attending to them, you cannot 
be a Christian. There never yet was a child of 
God, that did not love to be alone with his Father, 
and pray to him in secret. 

What an honor is it to be admitted to a private 
audience with God; to be closeted with the King 
of kings ! A subject feels it to be a distinction to 
be introduced at court on a levee day, though at 
such a time, and amid the multitude, he can ex- 
pect no special attention; but how much richer 
is the privilege to have an interview and confer- 
ence with the monarch alone, and there present 
his petitions, when he has the royal ear to himself! 

What a rich reward does the duty yield when 
rightly performed. How precious is the privilege. 
To have all restraint removed, and feel that we 
are at freedom to pour out the utmost secrets of 
our hearts, whether of sin, sorrow, or anxiety. 
You must know this by experience, and how often 
you have relieved your burdened spirit of its load 
in that retreat, where neither eye nor ear of man 
could follow you. Read the biographies of emi- 
nent Christians, and there learn the value and the 
sweetness of private prayer. " I would not," says 
a lady in her diary, "be hired out of my closet for 
17 



194 PRIVATE PRAYER. 

a thousand worlds. I never enjoy such hours of 
pleasure, and such free and entire communion 
with God as I have here ; and I wonder that any 
can live prayerless, and deprive themselves of the 
greatest privilege allowed them." — " In prayer," 
says Henry Martyn, " I had a most precious 
view of Christ, as a friend that sticketh closer 
than a brother ! I hardly know how to contem- 
plate with praise enough his adorable excellences. 
Who can show forth all his praise ? I can con- 
ceive it to be a theme long enough for eternity. 
I want no other happiness, no other sort of heav- 
en." Brainerd in his journal records : " I spent 
an hour in prayer with great intenseness and free- 
dom, and with the most soft and tender affection 
toward mankind. it is an emblem of heaven 
to love all the world, with a love of kindness, for- 
giveness, and benevolence. My soul was sweetly 
resigned to God's disposal of me — I confided in 
him that he would never leave me, though I should 
walk through the valley of the shadow of death." 
How often did Dr. Payson write in his journal : 
" Had a sweet season of prayer this morning, and 
felt fervent love to my Savior, and desires that he 
might be glorified." But why should I multiply 
examples, or refer you to others. If you are 
Christians as well as professors, your own experi- 
ence, I repeat, confirms the privilege of prayer. 
Some of your happiest, holiest seasons on earth 
have been spent in your closets. There you have 
communed with God ; there vour cares have been 



PRIVATE PRAYER. 195 

lightened, your sorrows alleviated, your fears dis- 
sipated, and your souls invigorated. There you 
have conquered the world, subdued your foes, 
mortified your corruptions. what hours you 
have spent, what discoveries you have made, what 
joys you have experienced ! 

Think what an influence secret prayer has upon 
your whole spirit, and temper, and conduct* 
" God's morning smiles bless all the day." Ac- 
count for it as ycu may, I believe the fact is un- 
questionable — that private prayer so regulates 
and tranquillizes the mind, gives it such a balance, 
self-possession, and reliance on divine aid, that it 
happily fits a person for the performance of his 
most common duties, and enables him to accom- 
plish more, and do it better than he otherwise 
could. What but prayer gave Nehemiah such 
firmness in building the walls of Jerusalem amid 
insults and opposition ? What else enabled Dan- 
iel to brave the lion's den ? Sir Matthew Hale, 
that upright judge, in his letters to his children, 
says : " If I omit praying and reading a portion of 
God's blessed word in the morning, nothing goes 
well with me all the day." Boerhave, the cele- 
brated Dutch physician, said, that "his daily 
practice of retiring for an hour in the morning, 
and spending it in devotion and meditation, gave 
him firmness and vigor for the whole day." Dr. 
Doddridge used frequently to observe, that " he 
never advanced well in human learning without 
prayer ; and that he always made the most pro- 



196 PRIVATE PRAYER. 

ficiency in his studies when he prayed with the 
greatest fervency." Luther had written on his 
study door : " To have prayed well, is to have 
studied well." And is not all this accordant, my 
dear friends, with your own experience ? 

What examples, then, recommend this practice \ 
But what are these to the example of Christ ? 
He also was not only a man of sorrows, but a 
man of prayers ; — 

11 Cold mountains and the midnight air 
Witnessed the fervor of his prayer.'' 

And can you have the mind of Christ, and be par- 
takers of his spirit, if there be no love to prayer? 
Permit me, then, in conclusion, to ask you, my 
dear friends, with all the fidelity and affection that 
belong to my office as your pastor, are you in the 
habit and love of private prayer ? Have you 
stated and regular times for this duty, and do you 
keep them ? Are you suffering the cares of a 
family, the engagements of business, or the pur- 
suits of labor, to interfere with this exercise ? 
Have you special seasons for prayer ? Do you 
enjoy the devotions of the closet ? Have you the 
spirit of prayer ? Have you ceased to pray ? If 
so. Why? Is it the indulgence of sin, the pleas- 
ures of the world, or some mistaken view of duty ? 
Oh ! do examine. The soul that is neglecting 
private prayer is in an awful state of backsliding 
from God. Are you, in such a state, happy? Are 
you ready for death, meet for heaven ? Can you be 



PRIVATE PRAYEK. 197 

willing to have it recorded against you in the book 
of God's remembrance : " This is the man that 
once bowed unto me in his closet ; asked for par- 
doning mercy ; that once sued for an interest in 
his Savior's love ; but afterward shut, no more to 
open, his closet door ; broke his most solemn 
vows ; committed again the sins for the pardon of 
which he prayed, and turned away from the 
Savior." Oh ! my dear friends, return, return 
speedily to prayer ! 

17* 



£98 . SELF-EXAMINATION. 



No. XII. 

SELF-EXAMINATION. 

My Dear Friends : This address will reach you 
at the close of one year, or the beginning of an- 
other : in either case its congratulations and direc- 
tions, its admonitions and cautions, will be in sea- 
son. Bless the God of your mercies that he has 
guided, protected, sustained, and supplied you 
during another year of your pilgrimage in the 
wilderness state. Raise your Ebenezer, and in- 
scribe upon it: "Hitherto the Lord hath helped 
me ;" and having given utterance to the fulness 
of a grateful heart, that you are " the living, the 
living to praise God," proceed to the work of self- 
examination. One use we should make of the 
end of our years, is to consider them as resting- 
places on the hill of life, or stages in its journey, 
where we should pause, turn round, take out our 
map, and inquire whether we are in the right 
road, and what progress we are making. Another 
year is opening before you with all its unknown 
unimagined scenes ; it may be your last; and will 
he to some of you. Could you read the book of 
destiny, you would find, perhaps, written opposite 
your name: "This year thou shalt die." It is, 
therefore, a suitable admonition to address to you* 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 199 

"Set thy house in order, for thou shall die and not 
live." — " For he that will die well and happily, 
must dress his soul by a diligent and frequent 
scrutiny ; he must in this world love tears, humil- 
ity, solitude, and repentance." 

Self-examination is a duty enjoined upon us 
both by reason and Scripture. Observe with what 
vehemence the apostle enforces it : " Examine 
yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your 
own selves 5 know ye not your own selves, that 
Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates." 
2 Cor. xiii. 5. This, recollect, was addressed to 
professing Christians, and is an exercise in which 
all true believers have ever practised themselves- 
No one can be really in earnest about the salva- 
tion of his soul, who never looks with solicitude 
into his spiritual state. 

There are two ends for which this duty is to 
be performed — first, to ascertain the sincerity and 
reality of our religion; and, secondly, its condi- 
tion: in other words, to inquire whether we be 
in the faith, and also in what degree we are bring- 
ing forth, or neglecting to bring forth, its fruits : 
analogous to what takes place in the conduct of 
the careful tradesman, who inspects his affairs to 
find out, in the first place, whether he is solvent ; 
and in the next, what is the amount of his profits, 
and how, by avoiding past errors, or making up 
discovered deficiencies, he can increase his pros- 
perity. So a diligent, watchful, careful professor, 
is anxious to know not only that he is a Chris tiarij 



200 SELF-EXAMINATION. 

but how his religion can be improved and increas- 
ed. It is true, some are happily partakers of so 
large a measure of the well-founded assurance of 
faith and hope, as to have few doubts about their 
state j and, indeed, little cause for them. They 
have so much of the spirit of adoption, as con- 
stantly to enjoy the witness of the Spirit of God, 
that they are his children. It is not so, however, 
with all Christians, and even those with whom it 
is, may occasionally examine with profit, the state 
of their souls, if it be only to increase their con- 
fidence in the reasons of the hope that is in them. 

How momentous is the question : " Am I really 
a child of God !" What consequences hang upon 
the decision of such a matter ! The very possi- 
bility of self-deception here, is truly horrifying 
To wake up from the sleep of death in hell in- 
stead of heaven, and find that we have made a 
mistake which requires an eternity fully to under- 
stand, and an eternity adequately to deplore ! 
Such a mistake is made, it is to be feared, by mul- 
titudes in every age. And when we consider the 
deceitfulness of our hearts, our proneness to self- 
love, and the easiness of making a profession in 
this tranquil age of the church, there is such im- 
minent peril of a fatal error in our own case, as 
should send us all to our closets, our hearts, our 
Bible, and our God, to examine whether we " be 
in the faith." It is a matter which none should 
take for granted. 

If we examine ourselves, it must be by some 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 201 

xule, and the only one of any authority in this 
case is the word of God. The Holy Scriptures 
are the only touchstone which God will acknowl- 
edge. These are the balances of the sanctuary; 
the legal standard in the assay office of heaven ; 
all that will not stand this test must be thrown 
aside, as reprobate silver. To the law and the 
testimony, then, must be our appeal. Our faith 
must be tested by the gospel ; our practice by the 
law ; and our spirit and temper by the mind of 
Christ. He is the model, the pattern, the meas- 
ure by which all his followers are to be examined, 
for both law and gospel are imbodied in him. 

I will now lay down some rules and considera- 
tions and cautions by which this important busi- 
ness must be carried on. 

1. Do not examine yourselves only by your own 
notion of what a Christian is and should be, and 
be satisfied if you come up to that, because that 
notion may itself be wrong. Many frame to 
themselves an exceedingly inaccurate idea of what 
is included in religion ; and yet if they possess 
this, are quite contented. This is what the apos- 
tle calls, " comparing themselves with them- 
selves," and has led in innumerable cases to self- 
delusion and self-destruction. Before you are sat- 
isfied, then, with the conclusion that you answer 
to your own idea of a Christian, take good care 
to examine by the Bible whether that idea itself 
be a scriptural one. 

2. Do not examine yourselves merely by the 



202 SELF-EXAMINATION. 

creeds and catechisms, the formularies, rites, and 
ceremonies of any particular church ; or by the 
sentiments, opinions, and criteria, of any individ- 
ual uninspired writer ; nor be satisfied if you im- 
agine you come up to these standards. Such tests 
need themselves to be tried, for they are all falli- 
ble. The Bible, the Bible alone is the religion of 
Christians. Uninspired works may be used with 
advantage, as helps, but not as infallible stand- 
ards.* 

3. Do not be satisfied with the good opinion of 
others upon your state. Some persons are too 
prone to get rid of their fears and take refuge in 
the favorable estimate formed of their piety by 
those who rank high in their view for judgment 
and experience. It is more safe, in some cases, to 
regard the sentiments of those who are prejudiced 
against us. Your friends cannot see your heart. 
Their kindness to you and affection for you, may 
lead them to form the best opinion they can, and 
their love to you may make them blind to defects 
which are incompatible with sincere piety, or at 
any rate, with that which is eminent. Besides, 
their own religion may be so defective and incon- 
sistent, as to give easy credence, for their own 
sakes, to the reality of yours. Do not be flattered 

* I here recommend an exceedingly valuable little 
work, entitled, " Am I a Christian, or Aids to Self-Exam- 
ination/' by the Rev. Hubbard Winslow. It contains 
the celebrated " resolutions" of Jonathan Edwards, 
and rules for " Growth in Grace." 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 203 

into self-deception. Let not their ignorant and 
injudicious adulation stand between you and the 
Bible ; it is what this says, and not what your 
friends say that must determine your state. 

4. Do not consider that all is right because you 
are admitted to membership upon the examina- 
tion of a minister, or even that of a church in 
addition, and conclude that your Christianity is 
sincere because your profession has been admitted 
to be credible. There is a path leading from the 
sacramental table, trodden by thousands, to the 
bottomless pit ! 

5. Beware of judging of yourselves, by partial 
and detached views of your conduct. To this we 
are extremely prone. Ever ready to depart from 
universal regard to the ways of G-od, we are dis- 
posed to rest on some one action or set of actions, 
as an evidence that all is well with us, and flatter 
ourselves on this ground, that we are the servants 
of Jehovah. It is conceivable that many may be 
prone from taste, situation, interest, or other cir- 
cumstances to some one branch of Christian duty, 
who are lamentably remiss in others, the obliga- 
tions of which though equally strong and plain, 
are unfelt and resisted. Self-examination must 
embrace the whole of the divine law, and the 
whole of our character. We must examine 
whether we possess that love to God and holiness 
which is the principle of all right obedience, and 
which if it be possessed, makes us willing and anx- 
ious to do the whole will of God. 



204 SELF-EXAMINATION. 

6. Do not in default of present evidence, g& 
back to past experience, and coupling this with 
perverted views of the doctrine of the persever- 
ance of the saints, conclude that you are Christians, 
although there be no satisfactory existing proofs 
of faith and godliness. When the conclusion is 
drawn from past, instead of present evidence, and 
the awakened conscience is hushed again to slum- 
ber by the opiate of such a sentiment as that, once 
a child of God, a child of God for ever, the delu- 
sion is awful, and the consequences are likely to be 
dreadful and eternal. 

7. Do not take up the business of self-examina- 
tion in order to quiet a conscience, feeling the 
burden of its guilt, and to free the soul from pain- 
ful apprehensions of the wrath of God. If you 
have not known the gospel scheme of salvation 
by grace, and justification by faith; or having 
known it, have fallen into sin, and thus lest the 
peace and comfort of your Kxind, your duty, and 
the way to quietness and assurance, is not to set 
about looking into your heart, and back upon your 
past conduct, to find out evidences of a state of 
grace; nor to seek the judgment of others, who 
in ignorance or in kindness, may endeavor to lull 
your solicitude and flatter you into a good opinion 
of your state, by reminding you of former zeal, 
and telling you that God often in sovereignty with- 
draws from his people because they cannot bear 
uninterrupted comfort ; — but instead of this, to 
apply at once by faith to the blood of Christ that 



SELF-EXAMINATION, 205 

cleanseth from all sin. You are to be directed to 
the cross, and to be required to believe the testi- 
mony that Christ will cast out none that come 
unto him. If this does not relieve you, God has 
provided no other ground of comfort, and you 
ought to beware of seeking any other either from 
yourselves or from your friends. Self-examination 
is never to be put in place of the exercise of faith; 
nor is it intended or calculated to give relief to 
the burdened sinner, or to restore the comfort of a 
trembling backslider. A person in either of these 
states of mind, may gain a short and fitful repose 
from the supposition that self-scrutiny has disclo- 
sed something in their favor, but it is a delusive, 
and will be likely to be a transient quietude, and 
like that produced by opiates for the body, it will 
soon pass of, and leave the spirit more restless and 
wretched than ever. 

8. Do not be satisfied with a conclusion that 
lests upon the lowest possible degree of evidence 
in your favor. Our faith is susceptible of various 
degrees of strength, and its fruits may be brought 
forth in greater or less abundance. It is a fearful 
problem for any man to attempt to solve, to try 
with how little religion he may be a real Chris- 
tian, and go to heaven. Do not compose your- 
selves to sleep with the idea, that though you are 
not so eminent as some others, and even have 
many glaring defects and inconsistences, you are 
right in the main. It may be so ; for weak faith, 
isLsincere faith ; and little grace, real grace ; but 
18. 



206 SELF-EXAMINATION. 

how difficult is it for us to determine, when faith 
is so weak, and grace is so feeble, that they exist 
at all ! Christ hath said : " Herein is my Father 
glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be 
my disciples." John xv. 8. If then the test of 
discipleship be much fruit, it is unsafe to rest our 
conclusion upon a little. The more we are con- 
formed to the image of Christ, and the more we 
have of the mind that was in him, the more deci- 
sive is the evidence that we are in the faith. 
who that is in any degree alive to the importance 
of salvation, and to the blessedness of an assured 
hope of it, will be content with those low degrees 
of evidence, which leave their possessors ever 
fluctuating between hope and fear ? 

9. Enter upon the work of examination with 
the double purpose of increasing both your joy, 
and your holiness. Religious comfort, joy, and 
peace in believing, are of immense consequence, 
not only to your happiness, but your safety. " The 
joy of the Lord is your strength." Neh. viii. 10. 
" The peace of God which passeth all under- 
standing keepeth your hearts and minds through 
Jesus Christ." Phil. iv. 7. Religious joy makes 
duty cheerful, trials light, temptations powerless, 
and worldly amusements insipid. It is of impor- 
tance therefore to increase it ; and the self-exam- 
ination of real Christians, by revealing the evi- 
dence of their sincere belief, produces this increase 
of the joy of faith. But where this end is not 
answered, and disclosures are made, calculated to 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 207 

produce an opposite effect, holiness may be pro- 
moted ; for it is never to be forgotten that improve- 
ment is one great end of self-scrutiny. He that 
examines the state of his heart and life at the 
conclusion of one year, ought to do it with a view 
to correct what is wrong, and supply what is 
wanting, during the next. 

10. No one should be satisfied with his own 
self- inspection, but by earnest and believing pray- 
er, should entreat of God to search him also, and 
to make known to him his real condition. That 
man knows not the deceitfulness of his heart, nor 
is he duly impressed with the danger and conse- 
quences of self-deception, who does not occasion- 
ally with intense solicitude, present the prayer of 
the Psalmist : " Search me, G-od, and know my 
heart ; try me and know my thoughts, and see if 
there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in 
the way everlasting." Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24. 

Ask, then, afresh, and with deep solemnity at 
the close of the present, or at the beginning of 
the next year, the momentous question : " Am I a 
sincere Christian, or only a professor . ? " Set apart 
an additional hour, to inquire into this great sub- 
ject. what are all other questions compared 
with this, but as the small dust of the balance ? 
By all the value you bear for your soul, or your 
soul's salvation, I entreat you in the most solemn 
manner, to take up this matter, and spread it be- 
fore the Lord in prayer. Take the following 
questions as a test : — 



208 SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Have you a consciousness that you really be- 
lieve in Jesus Christ, and are depending upon him, 
and him alone, for salvation ? 1 John v. 10. 

Do you bring forth the fruits of faith, which 
are the fruits of the Spirit, as set before us by the 
apostle ? Gal. v. 6, 22-25. Acts xv. 9. 1 John 
ii. 15; v. 4. 

Do you love God supremely, practically, habit- 
ually? 1 Johnv. 1-3. 

Do you love the children of God, for God's sake? 
1 John iii. 14. 

Are you complying with the apostle's direction 
in 2 Peter i. 5-10 ? On what principles do you 
act, those of the world or of the Bible ? What 
is your predominant object, time or eternity, the 
world or salvation? 1 Cor. iv. 18. Do you deny 
yourself for Christ's sake, or are you seeking only 
self-gratification ? Matt. xvi. 25, 26. 

How do you employ your talents of property, 
intellect, influence ? For God or self? Rom. xiv. 
7-9. 1 Cor. vi. 20. Phil. i. 21. 

How do you bear your afflictions ? "With sub- 
mission or repining ? Rom. v. 3. 

For a more minute and lengthened test of reli- 
gious character, I refer you to my work, entitled, 
" The Christian Professor," where, in the chapter 
on " The Self-deceived Professor, 5 ' you will find 
much to direct and caution you. 

But I will now suppose the great question set- 
tled, and that you have no serious reason to doubt 
that you are " in the faith;" still you have to ex- 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 209 

amine into the degree and state of your religion : 
for it may be very defective, where it is real. In 
what condition then are you come to the close of 
the year ? You were exhorted at the commence- 
ment of it, to make it a year of improvement, and 
great increase of holiness. Have you done so ? 
Has the exhortation of your pastor been complied 
with ? Have you sought and obtained an increas- 
ed effusion of divine influence ? Has the heav- 
enly shower come down in its season ? Have the 
dispensations of Providence, both in a way of 
judgment and mercy, been sanctified ? Have you 
improved well your sabbaths, fifty-two more of 
which have been numbered to you ? Where is 
the fruit of all the sermons you have heard? 
What are you the better for the renewed culture 
you have enjoyed ? I dare challenge you, and ask 
you if I have remitted aught of my labor, fidelity, 
and anxiety for your welfare. Yea, have I not 
added to it ? Have I sought to please you or to 
profit you ? Have I shunned to declare to you 
the whole counsel of God ? Am I not clear from 
the blood of all of you, if unhappily you should 
perish ? 

Well, my 'dear friends, examine your conduct 
during the past year. Inquire how you have sus- 
tained your various relations, and have discharged 
your various duties. Masters and mistresses, have 
you been kind to your servants, just as to their 
wages, watchful over their souls ? Servants, have 
you been honest, diligent, obedient, respectful, de- 



210 SELF-EX AMINATION. 

voted ? Fathers, have you kept up family religion 
with punctuality, seriousness, and affection, being 
careful of the spiritual welfare of your children? 
Children, have you been obedient, loving, dutiful? 
Tradesmen, have you been just, generous, true, 
faithful to your covenants, and considerate of your 
work-people ? Ye rich, have ye been liberal, 
humble, heavenly ? Ye poor, have ye been con- 
tented, submissive, trustful ? Ye aged, have ye 
been cheerful, weaned from the world, communi- 
cative to the young ? Ye young, have ye been 
modest, active, useful? As professors, have you 
been careful to avoid little sins, to maintain a ten- 
der and enlightened conscience, a brotherly feel- 
ing, and a spirit of charity ? All these topics 
should become matter of self-examination : here 
is a wide field of inquiry ; traverse it all. You 
must come behind in no duty, but go on unto per- 
fection. 

Think not, however, that self-examination is 
only an occasional duty. It should precede every 
approach to the Lord's table : "Let a man exam- 
ine himself," says the apostle, " and so let him 
eat." It should be interwoven with all our read- 
ing of the Scriptures, and hearing *>f the gospel; 
and, indeed, with the whole series of our actions. ■ 
It should be a nightly exercise at the close of each 
day. Pythagoras, a heathen philosopher, said to 
his disciples: "Let not sleep seize upon your 
senses before you have three times recalled the 
conversation and accidents of the day." Seneca, 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 211 

another pagan, said: "At night, when the light is 
removed, and all is hushed and still, I make a 
scrutiny into the day, and hide nothing from my- 
self." And now hear the language of a Christian 
bishop, on the necessity of ihis evening exercise : 
" If we consider the disorders of every day — the 
multitude of idle worlds ; the great portions of 
time spent in vanity; the daily omissions of duty; 
the coldness of our prayers; the indifferences of 
our spirit in holy things ; the uncertainty of our 
secret purposes; our deceptions and hypocrisies 
sometimes not known, very often not observed by 
ourselves ; our want of charity ; our not knowing 
in how many degrees of action and purpose every 
virtue is to be exercised; the secret adherances of 
pride, and too forward complacency in our best 
actions ; our failings in all our relations ; the 
niceties of difference between some virtues and 
some vices; the secret undiscernible passages 
from lawful to unlawful in the first instances of 
change ; the perpetual mistakings of permission 
for duty, and licentious practices for permission ; 
our daily abusing the liberty God gives us ; our 
unsuspected sins in managing a life certainly law- 
ful; our little greedinesses in eating, and surprises 
in the proportions of our drinkings; our too great 
freedoms and fondnesses in lawful loves ; our apt- 
ness for things sensual, and our deadness and 
weariness of spirit in spiritual employments ; be- 
side an infinite variety of cases of conscience 
that do occur in the life of every man, and in all 



212 SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Intercourses of every life — then shall we find that 
the productions of sin are incredibly numerous 
and increasing, and the computations of a man's 
life intricate and almost inexplicable ; and, there- 
fore, it is but reason we should sum up our ac- 
counts at the foot of every page : I mean that we 
call ourselves to scrutiny every night, when we 
compose ourselves to the little images of death." 

By this frequent examination, we shall prevent 
little sins from growing into great ones, and acts 
from becoming habits ; we shall stop the accumu- 
lation of those minor transgressions, which, if they 
do not become greater ones, diminish the lustre 
of our profession, interrupt our peace, and prey 
upon our spiritual strength; we shall increase the 
tenderness of our conscience, promote our watch- 
fulness, make our confession minute, our repent- 
ance particular, and greatly advance our holiness. 

And now, dear brethren, " yield yourselves to 
God" afresh at the commencement of another 
year, " as those that are alive from the dead, and 
your members as instruments of righteousness 
unto God." — "I beseech you by the mercies of 
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reason- 
able service ; and be not conformed to this world ; 
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your 
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, that 
.acceptable and perfect will of God." Rom. xii. 
1, 2. "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from 
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." 1 Pet 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 213 

ii. 12. "Pass the time of your sojourning here 
in fear, forasmuch as ye know ye were not re- 
deemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, 
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a 
lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Pet. 
i. 17-19. 

Resolve, by God's grace, this shall be the holi- 
est year, and the most useful one, of your whole 
life; then will it be the happiest; and even though 
it should be the last, it will be to your emancipa- 
ted spirit as the year of release, of jubilee, and 
eternal salvation. 



THE END. 



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